How to Create Texture on Your Walls

Wall texture trends tend to change a lot. Just look at the walls in an old home and compare them to walls in a new build. Chances are the texture on the walls is different in more ways than one. Like any trend, wall texture can be changed.

Popcorn wall texture, popular a decade or two ago, can be removed and orange peel texture, more popular now, can be added. And because individuality in design is more prevalent than ever, you are free to mix and match design styles and aesthetics, which includes changing up the wall texture any way you like it.

Get Ready

Before you texture your walls, make sure you know which wall texturing technique you’ll be using and you have all of the supplies. It’s easiest to texture walls in an empty room, but if that’s not an option, move everything to the center of the room and cover it with tarps.

Tape off your baseboards and ceiling and tarp your floors. The texturing process can get messy, so you’re going to want protective eye and hand ware and old clothes to attack this DIY in.

Orange Peel

The most popular textures, orange peel wall texturing looks a lot like it sounds. If you think of what an orange peel looks like, that's what the texture on your wall looks like when applied correctly. To achieve orange peel texture on your wall, you'll need a drywall mix or sand, primer, and a sprayer.

As with any style of wall texture, you can do as much or as little as you like when it comes to the application. If you want an intense orange peel you can do more drywall texture on the walls. If you want a more subtle orange field, use less mix.

Sand Swirl

A combination of primer and perlite can be used to create a sand swirl wall texture. Sand swirl wall textures are large swirls in your wall made using a knockdown knife or a texture brush. This particular type of wall texture is great for rooms that want lots of character and texture, without having the walls overshadow all of the other decor in the room.

Comb

If you want to get creative and let your artistic side shine through, maybe the comb technique is right for you. A comb wall involves using a special texturing comb to draw your own shape or pattern into the wall texture.

If you ever seen walls that look like they have detailed shapes and line work, it's likely comb walls. You will need a special wall comb, and a little bit of creativity to make this one work.

Knockdown

Perhaps the most common and easiest form of wall texturing is knockdown wall texturing. Knockdown walls look a lot like traditional stucco walls. In order to have perfect knockdown texture on your walls you need to start with a very clean wall.

Once the walls are cleaned and dried mix up your wall texture compound with water to create something similar to the texture of oatmeal. Once your texture has been apply to the walls, use a knockdown knife to smooth out some of the larger chunks and bumps so that there are no jagged parts on your wall.

Venetian

Venetian wall texture is great if you want a rustic yet elegant look in your home. Every time we see a wall with Venetian texture and paint we definitely feel like we're in an Italian Countryside.

Now, all praises being sung, this wall texture is not something for beginners to attempt. Venetian wall texture requires special wall texturing compound that includes marble dust and the application process is time-consuming and very tedious. Are the end results incredible? Yes. But is this something a new DIYer should tackle? Nope.

When it comes to texturing your walls, you can make the call for how much is too much and how little is too little. You can also leave your walls totally flat and that works too.