I was hoping to find something a little more "special." Since the big orange box sells that it's pretty played around here. Can I put plain unglazed on a floor with crackle glazed on a wall? I def. want a period look, but it doesn't have to be 100% authentic. The floor itself (in the master) is only about 3x9, not including the shower and separate water closet. (5 feet will be the tub on one side and the sinks on the other, so will have some type of mat.)

Crackle is out of style, but so what? If the cabinets are in good shape, put your thoughts, budget and efforts elsewhere. My old kitchen had partial overlay, bullnosed laminated slab, knobless, oranage oak from the '80's, with MDF interiors. Nothing to show off there! Lots of frustration with having the wrong kind of cabinets in the wrong places, too few uppers, too few drawers. If it hadn't bee for the awful layout and for the fact that MDF does not stand up to water damage at all well (plywood would probably have been okay--the MDF croaked), I probably would have just replaced the appliances and been done. Decent quality and not glaringly ugly is sufficient. (I'd call the orange oak non-ugly the way a new pair of coveralls isn't ugly. Not pretty, but functional and not ugly.) Not-ugly is also saleable. The best thing you can do for your kitchen for resale is clean the heck out of it. Empty all the cupboards and scrub the insides. Let them dry before putting stuff back (do a section at a time), and stage your belongings inside the cupboards to look good, like in a magazine ad. If you have overflow, pack it if you can, or put it in plastic tote boxes that can be put in the gargage during viewings. Get the appliances pristine. Pull out any free standing ones and clean all the area behind and under really well, then clean the backs and sides of the appliances. Wash them thoroughly inside and out. Use baking soda and boiling water (let them set) to get spots off of cooking equipment. And let the cabinets be what they are. If you hate the crackle, you can take apart the cabinets (remove doors and drawer fronts from all hardware including screws and hinges). Sand lightly, but thoroughly, and clean with TSP. Get a primer recommended at the paint store for covering faux, and prime carefully, then paint. That's a lot of work, however, and if you're really thinking of selling, it's not worth it.

Hi; I have done quite a few pieces using the Valspar form of Crackle medium. Crackling really does take some practice. The trick, I think, is putting on that top coat of paint. I have found it helps if i let the base coat cure a few days, then apply the crackle, let that sit a day or so, then the base coat. When applying the base coat, I try to put alot of paint on my brush and only go over the crackle using one stroke......two at the most. The paint and crackle start working together immediately on contact so you don't want to overstroke. I found it helpful to first practice on some scrap would. I believe you can also thin out the crackle medium with water, but not positive on that, never tried it. I believe also there is a rule about "more crackle medium, bigger cracks; thin layer of medium, small cracks." Also, HGTV has a great faux finishing board. you could go there and do a search and see if you get any other info if you want other info on it. good luck!

I don't know if you have done a lot of faux finishes, but bar stools is not a good start for a crackle finish. It would be difficult to explain why but it has to do with the legs and the rounds. I would spray paint bar stools an decidedly different color and no crackle here. I think it not only is very difficult but will bring down the look of your room and devalue what you are trying to accomplish. I don't think that is true of all crackle finishes as they are great in some locations, just not this one. JMHO, flame me, flame me but I think you need to go with a strong other color in solid paint. Do I see black on your frames on the wall? Black will give your room another dimension and bulk it up as it needs that. It will give it the look it deserves.