Oh dear, Dallasbill...I just saw this post because chiefneil was kind enough to link to the thread on another forum. Thank you so much for posting the pics and linking to more. Your house takes my breath away. That is the *perfect* wall treatment for the design of the home. That last picture of the several planes of wall with the different inflections of the finish...calls to mind Georgia O'Keefe for some reason, that same stillness... Going back to look at it again and sigh.

walkin I found my file where I'd typed out instructions long ago for another board - thankfully 'cause I'd hate to have to do this again! Don't know what the word limit is here - I'll try and post but if it doesn't work you'll have to email me for directions. I'm giving you 2 directions for 2 different finishes and either one will work for a backsplash - subtle movement, easy to do (don't let the wordiness scare you, do practice boards and you'll see) and easily undone. Just prep as you would for any repainting, roll on new paint and it's gone. If you have any questions, email me - dlm054@gmail.com Parchment Faux This finish will work with any color(s) but to achieve the true parchment look, base color and glaze color should be only 2 to 3 shades different. Toned colors look the best to me, and you dont have to stick to the traditional yellow tones of parchment. Grayed greens look great, golds, terra cottas  even jewel tones look beautiful in this finish, although parchment will not be the word that comes to mind! Application tools: I prefer cotton knit (like t-shirts) rags approx. 18" x 12"  no seams  they will show in the wall finish. If you have old white tÂs to tear up thatÂs fine, or they are sold at HD and most paint stores. Do not us color tÂs. Basic Technique : I like a darker glaze over a lighter wall color. So start with your walls based in the lighter of the two shades, use an eggshell finish. You want the glaze to be able to move on the wall a bit but not a lot  semi-gloss is too slippery. Mix your glaze and paint 3 to 1 or 4 to 1 and add extender if you are using latex paint. You need a long open time to get the really soft look of parchment. You will need tight fitting gloves for this and 2 buckets. Mix your glaze in a small bucket (1 gal) and place it inside a big one (5 gal). This cuts WAY down on splatters. You need two rags at a time to work this. Soak one rag with glaze  totally drenched  then carefully keep it within the big bucket and wring out a lot of the glaze. It needs to be wet, but not dripping. Open it up, grab one corner and hold the whole thing over your other hand. Put the end opposite where you are holding into the open palm of your empty hand. Slowly lower it and allow the rag to create its own folds  it should all rest on your open hand, no tails hanging out  this is called your ÂroseÂ. Try this with a dry rag and youÂll see just what I mean. Take it to the wall and start washing in circles  overlapping  cover an area about 2 x 3 irregular shapes  no square edges. With your dry rag (which is in your other hand at all times and scrunched up in much the same way) start patting over the edges of what you just applied and feather them out till they are very soft. Then work the interior of this area in the same way, only donÂt soften it as much and leave high and low, dark and light. What you are doing is disguising the circular marks of application and applying the texture of the parchment. Re-do your rose  you probably wonÂt need more paint till you have done 3 sections  and do the next area. Start adjacent to but not touching what you just worked. Feather your new area back into the old and continue as before. This is a good finish to do by yourself  you donÂt need a partner. DonÂt plan on taking a break until you finish one whole wall. There is a brown paper tape that has a light tack on one little strip only. Put this down the corner of the wall you are working towards (sticky part in the corner) and it will protect your next wall from getting smeared while you finish the first. If you do want to do this with someone, make sure you play the up-down game. One of you starts high on the wall and one starts low (same wall right on top of each other) when you get to the middle, the low man goes high, the high man goes low. This way, your different techniques will be thoroughly mixed up on each wall and it will look appropriate. Terry Cloth Faux Supplies: Paint Glaze 2 2-1/2" or 3"chip brushes (can be purchased at Home Depot usually found next to the foam brushes, white bristles natural wood handle about $1  chip means cheap to me) Terry rags  can be purchased also at HD  should all be the same otherwise your treatment will change look every time you change rags. Wash & dry before use to remove lint. Dampen your towels  not wet!  barely damp, and fold into a pad so that all hems are on the inside  you will refold as you work, but try to always keep hems out of your paint  they make lines. Instructions: Mix your glaze 5: 1 or more glaze to paint. I just did my 28 x 18 kitchen/family room and used 5C glaze 1C paint, and I have close to 2C left  this technique does not use a lot. A standard size backsplash would only need a couple of cups total! Technique: Use a chip brush and apply fairly random strokes of your mix to the wall in patches. You are going to put a stroke about 5" long, move over and down a few inches, angle a bit and do another stroke, move up and over, stroke again. You arenÂt reloading the brush each time  some strokes will have more paint, some less  thatÂs ok. You want to work in an area of approx 18" but not square  keep it irregular. Very little paint is on the wall  almost like an abstract painting. Now, with your damp terry pad, tap into the edge of one of your strokes and keep tapping as you move the paint towards a bare place. Move in and out of your painted strokes, tapping the pad and moving the paint about. This probably sounds very complicated because there is no visual, but itÂs really a very simple technique. You are tapping, pouncing and ever so slightly sliding the paint around, but you should not see any sliding marks  this should look almost stippled. DonÂt totally even out the paint you stroked on  leave some areas a bit darker some lighter, but do totally eliminate the brush strokes. Fade your edges out to almost nothing  that makes it easy to blend in the next area. Use your chip brush, move over and up or down, and do it again. Keep moving all around the wall. As long as you always fade out your edges, your areas will blend. For a backsplash, you are obviously only moving sideways not up or down. Corners, ceiling lines and baseboards (or cabinet/tile lines as the case may be): Load your chip brush tips only  very little paint is required  and gently tap the paint near not in the corner or ceiling. You should have worked your patches close to the corners by this time, but you couldnÂt get into them because the pad is too big. Now, with your clean chip brush, tap into the paint you just applied and move it to the corner in small pouncing motions. It should blend into your other areas perfectly. You donÂt want to leave your corners or they will look like a halo around each wall and you donÂt want them too dark and smeared or it will look like you didnÂt know how to handle corners. Corners, and ceiling lines are the give-away on an amateur job  thatÂs where you need the most patience for any faux finish. Making a sample first: On a poster board (approx.18 x 24) painted in your base color, paint a vertical swatch of your glaze mix (1 brush width and about 4 or 5 inches long) in the upper left corner, then another in the middle running on an angle as if from 10 to 4 on a clock, then another in the lower right corner kind of horizontal and a small one right above it because you wonÂt have much paint on your brush by that time. Then put a bit more paint on your brush and put another towards the lower left corner. That's the type of coverage you start with in each area of your wall before you start pouncing with the terry pad. There is really very little glaze applied to the walls. What you are doing is thinning it out and moving it around. Keep varying the angles of the swatches but don't make yourself crazy about it - the distances are approx. and there shouldn't be any particular pattern to it. Once you try this, you'll see how much the paint will get moved around and you'll know how much you need to apply to cover a given area. Remember it will dry a bit darker. It will also mellow as it dries - what looks harsh when you are done will be fine in the morning.

Venetian plaster looks awesome when done correctly, but it is EXTREMELY difficult to do. I worked at Home Depot for 11 years and worked with it many times. It is basically a lighter version of drywall that is tinted to a color. You trowel it on, let it dry, sand it, trowel on another coat, let it dry and sand it again...it ends up looking like a two-toned faux finish, kind of marbled. The key to sanding it, or burnishing it, is that it gets shiny. Paint sales representatives tell you that it's easy to do, but they show you how on a small board instead of a whole wall. It's actually back-breaking work to do a whole room, and it takes several gallons to complete a job. Retail cost of it is fairly expensive too, at $30-$50 per gallon. You can paint over it later, and you might see the Venetian plaster/texture underneath, it depends on how heavy you troweled it on, and how much you sanded it. Honestly? I used it myself at home to do an entire hallway, and I wouldn't put that torture on ANYONE else! It's not an easy job at all. Hope this helps!

Oh, I am not saying how old I am! Who wants a wall you can stick a thumb tack in? Here's another great thing about these marvelous old houses. You know why you never get bathroom mold even though you never had fans in the bathrooms? Because under the 50 layers of paint over the house's lifespan was the bad stuff, yessiree, LEAD PAINT. And lead is toxic to mold! All through those layers. So now you know, although you probably did, why once you remodel and get lead abatement you need fans strong enough to dry your hair and loud enough so you can't even relax and enjoy your music and you have to leave them on a half hour after you get out and you need special anti-fungal paint and I even squirted in two extra tubes of anti-fungal gunk with a prayer . And if you think you can do with your child with croup as was done in the old days, put them in the tub and turn on the water as hot as they can stand and shut the door and window and steam up the whole place for a few hours, forget it! Or just know you will have as much paint peeling and spotting as you will have sweat dripping. Just pull out your wallet.