When crowsfeet are a good thing

The last bedroom is done. It is definately the most "lipstick on a pig" room. The construction in that room was almost as bad as the hallway and in some ways I might have saved time just ripping out these walls as well.

I did end up scraping the cottage-cheese acoustical texture off and it left behind tracks of mud and under that I could see the same crappy seams that were on the wall. Cottage cheese is for lazy-assed builders who don't want to make a good ceiling. Anyway...

At first I tried to texture like we did at home with small globs applied and then troweled but it was killing me. It's probably the most time intensive way.

Jeff had suggested we try the crows feet brush that we saw at Lowe's. I told him that it was used for ceilings and he thought it would be a good idea. I ended up sanding down the texture I had started and got out a paint tray liner and filled it with mud, put the brush at the end of a handle and stamped the brush into the mud.

I randomly mushed the pattern, twisting the brush around to different angles. If I got too much mud on the first tamp then I would go back over it again to lift off some of the mud. About half way through I had to wash out the brush because I stopped getting a sunburst and started getting sploosh. I just swished it around in a clean toilet and flush a few times.

After you apply the mud you have to wait about 5-10 mins to knock down the texture or you will just drag the mud across and ruin the pattern. Don't wait too long or you will drag lines in the mud. I used a 10 inch mud knife for the knock down.

I love the pattern and will probably use it in my bedroom over a very dark color. After it dries I'll probably "dye" it with a glaze so I don't cover up the dark paint underneath.

This is one of the few things that makes me glad we did the remodel. I love finding new and wonderful ways of doing things.

Lessons Learned:

Spending $8 for a crowsfoot brush saved me about 2 hours of time

Sometimes, very rarely, Jeff is right! :P