How to Hand Plaster Walls to Cover Over Wallpaper or damaged walls

Not only can wall paper make a house seem dated, it is also expensive to replace. An alternative, hand-plastering walls, can now be found in many upscale houses. You can add a hand-plastered wall to accent a living room, kitchen or dining room. Even better, you can hand-plaster over wallpaper as a way of updating a room. Another use of this technique is to cover up damage in a wall. When a plumber did a bad patching job, I decided to cover up the mistake by re-plastering the whole bathroom. It was so easy to do and looked so good that I later used this technique to cover up wallpaper and popcorn. The materials are the same for each of these jobs, but the techniques are a little different.

Plastering knifes (4” works well for most of wall, but you might want a 1” for corners and edges.

Joint compound (all-purpose or lightweight both work fine)

Plastering tray or bucket

Plastic covering for floor and furniture

Painter’s tape or masking tape

Paper towels and water for clean-up

• How do I get ready?

First take everything off the wall you want to plaster and move furniture out of the way. Next cover the floor near the wall with plastic sheeting and tape the sheeting to the baseboard with painter’s tape or masking tape. This job is messy and you won’t want the plaster to get on anything you can’t easy wipe up. Plaster can be washed with water and a wet paper towel can wipe it up easily when it is wet, so keep some paper towels and water around for cleanups.

• How do I plaster?

Put some of the joint compound in your plastering tray. Take about ¼ to ½ cup of plaster (don’t measure, just eyeball it) on your plaster knife. Start at an edge of the wall and hold the knife with the plaster against the wall at about a 45 degree angle. Pull the knife toward you and smear the plaster on the wall. You will want to press down so that you only leave at the most about ¼ of an inch of plaster. Pick up the knife and pull it across the plaster again in another direction. Continue to put plaster on the wall and then smooth it in different directions. There is no one way to do this. If you don’t like the way the plaster looks, then try doing a couple of swipes across it in a different direction. Don’t make the swipes too long unless you are trying to get a striped look. Actually, I found that it looks better if I do this quickly and don’t try to fuss with it too much. After you’ve finished a 2’ by 2’ section, then look at it and lightly swipe across any parts that don’t look the way you want.

• Do you have to remove wallpaper?

If you can easily rip off the wallpaper, then you should probably do so. I used a wet sponge to help loosen the paper on my walls. However, you do not have to scrape all of the paper off a wall. Whatever sticks on the wall and can’t be easily scraped off can just be plastered over.

• Do I have to cover the wallpaper or wall?

No, actually I’ve found that my walls looked best with just a light coat over parts of the wall to give some texture. Some of the wall might show through but it will be covered with paint.

• How about the edges?

I sometimes use a finger or the edge of a smaller knife to smooth the edges of walls, around fixtures in the walls or between the wall and the ceiling.

• What about texturing?

Visit Home Depot, Lowes or your local hardware store to see other tools to use in texturing. There are combs and sponges that can be used for different effects. You can also use crumpled up aluminum foil.

• Do you have to work quickly?

The plaster remains workable for an hour or more, so you can experiment with different effects. Once it is allowed to dry, you can still go over it with more plaster. If you don’t finish the project, you can wrap up the joint compound to keep it from drying out and finish later. It is easy to add to a wall you’ve already started and you will never know it wasn’t done in one setting after it is painted.

• How can I get different hand-plastering looks?

Depending on how thick you put the plaster on the walls and how you swipe the knife across, you can get some very different kinds of looks. You can have a wavy look, a rough look or a prickly look. Look at my pictures for ideas and you can also look at design books.

• How long does it take?

Believe it or not, this is a very quick home project. I’ve done a whole bathroom in an evening. In fact, I’ve often liked the rooms I did quickly better. You will need to let the plaster dry completely before painting. You will know when it is dry when it changes color (from dark grey to light grey for all-purpose, from grey to white for lightweight). It should also feel dry to the touch. Depending on the air temperature and humidity, this can take a few days.

• What do you do to finish?

Usually, I just paint over the plaster with one or two coats of high quality paint. I like to use Behr paint with primer because it colors so easily. Use a thicker roller to get into the grooves of the plaster.

• What colors look best?

I love the look of Behr UltraWhite, which I used in a bathroom which had blue, white and yellow Mexican deco tiles. However, any color can look good that matches your room. I tried white in another bathroom we had that was tiled in blue and green Mexican tiles with aSaltillofloor. It didn’t look right. When we switched to a color which matched the floor it made the room look like it was from an old Mediteranian home by the sea. You can also do a base color and glaze over it with either white or brown. That makes an antique rustic look.

• Did you try this technique?

I’d love to see some pictures of your finished work. If you have some, then contact me and I will post them for other people to see.