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Marble brings an elegant and sophisticated touch to any home, but real marble can be extremely expensive. Luckily, faux painting techniques can help you create the look of marble at a price that won't break your budget. You don't even need to be a professional artist to get impressive looking results!

Getting Started

Before beginning your faux painting project, it helps to spend some time looking at pictures of various marble slabs to get a better idea of what will work for you. These days you don't even have to travel to do that. Just do a search online for "marble" and you can find websites that give you a variety of pictures. There are a number of different methods used to create the look of marble. Intricate designs can be time consuming, however, especially if this is your first faux painting project. Additionally, elaborate patterns can sometimes compete with other elements in the room. If you are going to apply this finish on a wall, then consider a marble look that has less veins that softly blend into one another. You can choose just about any color since real marble comes in thousands of different colors and designs. Your colors should match the existing room decor and consist of more than one color.

Tips for Marble Faux Painting Projects

When creating a faux marble finish, you'll need at least two colors of glaze. The traditional colors used in marble faux painting projects are burnt sienna or dark grey on a pale ivory background. If you are working with black background, however, subtle shades of white and green are best.

You can add texture to your base coat of glaze by lighting dabbing the area with a balled up plastic grocery bag. Variations in tone can be created by lifting off excess paint with a natural sea sponge.

Veins can be added to your work with a fine paintbrush, but you may also want to experiment with the different looks provided by making veins with a goose or turkey feather. If you want to make a stencil to guide your work, tear a strip of poster board and paint along the jagged edge.

If you're nervous about tackling a large project immediately, consider spending some time perfecting your technique on a piece of scrap wood or a sturdy sheet of poster board. Don't be overly critical when trying to correct flaws in your work, however. As a natural material, real marble is seldom perfect. Diverse looking veins in regards to thickness and intensity is important. Therefore, even a few minor mistakes can help give your faux painting project a more realistic appearance.

Working with a Faux Painting Kit

For those who are just learning about faux finishing techniques, investing in a faux painting kit can be a smart move. A kit gives you all of the necessary tools in one convenient location, plus detailed instructions to guide you through your home decor project. Even though many home improvement stores are limited in the variety of kits you might find, the internet is a great place to purchase one right for you. There are websites that show you the basics of faux painting which you can incorporate in achieving a faux marble finish, even if it is not included in the kit.