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  • Color Washing
  • From "DIY Decorating & Design"
    episode DID-101
    advertisement

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    Figure A

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    Figure B

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    Figure C

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    Figure D

    Color washing ages the newly built gardener's cottage of landscape architect Karen Dominguez-Brann in a light and colorful way. It's fast too: Karen was able to paint the whole cottage -- sunny-yellow interior, periwinkle-blue door and juniper-green exterior -- in one day.

    Materials:

    Dark latex paint for base coat
    Light latex paint for over coat
    Rubber gloves
    Two cake pans
    Two sponges

    1. Pour dark base coat and light over coat into separate cake pans. Karen used a woodsy juniper green as the base coat, and a very light, almost white, celadon as the over coat.

    2. Wear rubber gloves for this step. Dampen a sponge and wring it out thoroughly. Press the sponge into the base coat until every fiber of the sponge is drenched ( figure A). Lightly wipe the paint over your surface (figure B).

    3. Let the base coat dry a few minutes, until tacky, then lightly drag a sponge loaded with the over coat across the surface (figure C). The sponge should be loaded with paint on one side but not dripping. Use the clean side of the sponge to go over the surface again and pull off the extra paint (figure D).

    That's it: fast, foolproof and colorful.

    Tip:

    • DIY Decorating and Design host Nancy Golden shows two projects she has tried: color-washing paneling to achieve an antiqued look, and color-washing unfinished-wood decorative molding. In both cases the technique highlights the texture and details of the wood for a sheer look.

  • ALSO IN THIS EPISODE: