Old Word Parchment Faux Finish

The Old World Parchment Faux Finish is one of the most popular faux painting finishes. This finish is easy to do and has a wonderful old world look to it making it ideal for libraries, offices or anywhere you might want an aged look. The colors in this finish consist of creams, light browns and sunny golden colors for a very warm feel.
This finish requires a base coat and then different colored glaze on top that will be blended together slightly. You will need some latex satin white paint or eggshell and then you will also need two different tones of a creamy light brown, one a little darker than the other. You will also need untinted glaze to mix the creamy light brown with. To apply the finish you’re also going to need some tools such as, a couple of 2 inch nylon brushes, 3/8 inch nap roller sleeve in a 9 inch length, a cheesecloth, and 2 inch painters tape.

You will start by applying the white paint as a base coat after taping off all molding, trim, doors, windows and whatever needs to be taped off. Once the base coat has dried for 24 hours you may begin the glazing part of the finish.

You will need to mix your glaze by combining the two colors with the untinted glaze in two separate containers. The mixture should be one part glaze and one part paint for a nice workable colored glaze.

Now you can apply the glaze for the old world parchment faux finish by using the two brushes. You should work in one small area at a time about three foot by three foot. To apply the glaze you need to make two squiggly lines about six to eight inches apart of each color. You will then take the cheese cloth and pad it around in a somewhat rubbing motion that should vary in direction. If the cheese clothe becomes tacky just rinse it with some warm water and wring it out good. There should be a good variety of light and dark spots. Once you have completed a wall you should now remove the tape before the glaze completely dries then move on to the next wall. As you will see the old world parchment faux finish will take on an aged look and have a wonderful warm feeling to it. For another great aged finish you may want to look at the crackle finish technique.