How to Use Rag-Roll Painting Techniques

Ron's first stop this week was in the town of North East, Pennsylvania where Lucy Mix wanted to add a special touch to the living room of her old Pennsylvania home built in 1840. Lucy wanted to do some kind of rag painting but didn't know exactly how to achieve the look she wanted. She asked Ron to help.

Click Here For a list of what you will need in order to complete this project.

This painting technique was a bit outside Ron's expertise as well, so he called in Victoria Dennis, a finisher, who showed us how to complete this project. Before Ron and Victoria arrived, Lucy had to prepare the walls. In her case she needed to strip three coats of wallpaper and apply two coats of a light base.

1. Set Up:

• Begin by removing all of the living room furniture.
• Cover all floor surfaces with a drop cloth.

2. Mix Paint:

• In a separate bucket mix equal parts of latex paint with a water-based glaze. The glaze keeps the paint from drying too quickly during the application, and also gives the finished wall a soft sheer look.
• Both the paints used in this project, the base coat and the glaze, were satin sheen. Ron recommends that you stay away from the flats.

3. Prepare Rags:

• Next, dampen a couple of soft cotton rags, which you will use to dab on the finish. The trick to this technique, Victoria tells us, is the perfect fold. Lay a square cotton cloth out flat. Pinch it in the middle, gather up all the corners in your hand and stick your finger into the center to create a rosette shape. This is going to give the texture and create the look on the wall.
• Before moving to the wall, Victoria recommends making some practice dabs just to get the feel of it.

4. Apply Masking tape:

• Use a low-tack masking tape to protect the trim before painting.

5. Apply the Paint:

• First, dab the cloth into the paint and then blot off the excess back into the paint pan. Then use your cloth to dab "faces" on the wall; two eyes and a nose, over and over again in a random pattern.
• Don't work in a tight area right away. It is best to work in areas of about two to three feet and then move outward.
• You will want to leave some white space between the rosettes as you work. Then you can go back over and soften your areas and eventually fill the white spaces in.

• To lighten the darker areas where you first started, you can go back over them, picking paint off the wall, onto your rag, and moving it to another area. Continue going over the area you are working and move outward to the white areas, this way you can slowly transfer the paint around to achieve an even look.
• Avoid using the saturated areas of your cloth. Instead, refold the rosette to expose some of the lighter areas that can still be used before you need to switch to a new, fresh cloth.
• When working near the edge of the trim you can simply lay the soft cloth against the edge and press it in.

Tip: When applying the paint, Ron noticed that Lucy's area was coming out very differently than the area that he was working on. Victoria said that you can always come back later and do a few touch ups here and there but in general, you want to see all the different textures that the rags can make. If you are really unhappy with your early attempts at rag painting you can simply roll right over the top of the dried paint, and start all over again from scratch. Since both the base coat and the rag paint are latex products, it's okay to cover one with the other.

THE RESULTS:

With three people working, they were able to finish the whole room before dinnertime! Not only did Lucy learn a wonderful new technique to bring warmth and beauty to her living room, but thanks to Victoria, Ron added a new skill to his "toolbag" as well!