I have never sponge painted before and I want to give it a try. We just painted a bedroom in a new contruction house yellow and it's brighter than what we had originally wanted. We thought that sponge painting might soften it a touch. My first question is: can I use a sponge roller rather than the hand-held sponge, and what will the difference be? If a sponge roller will work for someone like me (not artsey, never done this before . . . ), do I use a glaze? Any help you can give would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

Yes use glaze, a roller gives a some what more uniform look, but you have to not do straight up and down. Are you sure you want a sponged look? I've seen some that are really ugly, mabe check out some other options as well, dabbing with cloth, cheezecloth, plastic wrap, other textured rollers, etc., there are lots of other techniques. Or if you don't like the colour it would be easier to just repaint.
However, its fun to try different things, so first create a good sized test board.

 

you will be, for all intents & purposes, completely repainting this room. so just in case you think this will be easier than simply repainting in a lighter color, here's your headsup. it will, in fact, be more work than just repainting.

secondly, trying to work a new/different wet color on top of a dry color, will probably not produce the blended effect you're wanting. you will probably end up with a room that looks exactly like you painted it with a sponge. especially since you are not artsy (your words).

that said, i would recommend you either repaint in the lighter color you wanted in the first place but didn't buy, or plan on using 2 wet colors together to achieve a blended look. if you choose to do the latter, i highly recommend you use The Woolie (woolie.com, available at HD, etc). it's very easy to do & produces excellent results (using 2 colors at the same time on a roller - and comes with a video!)

good luck.