The Easy-Peasy, Incredibly Gorgeous, Fresco Lime Paint Application

I’d love to be able to say to you

‘Look! Look what I just did!….

“How good am I? Yes, you’re right – it takes mucho skill.

I know- I am super talented.

Yes, you’re correct – my years of training have really paid off”.

But that wouldn’t be strictly true. Yes, I painted my wall – but the rest…ah, not so much.

This particular wall application is actually easy-peasy*

(*emphasis on the easy – like Easy on a Sunday Morning, kinda easy).

I paint furniture. I’m quite good at furniture. ~~I don’t paint walls~~ I now paint walls. Go figure.

What did I use to get this sublime finish, you ask? Paint, or rather Pure & Original Fresco Lime Paint.

This product is new to me. I can not lie, when I started reading about it I started feeling a little anxious.

Remember, I paint furniture – not walls. This could be simply marvelous or the worse thing I have ever done (at least this week).

Although…when you realize you have to use the Fresco lime brush to apply the paint, you find yourself compelled to jump right on in.

In terms of paint brushes, it’s like the ‘Bad Boy’; it’s big and robust and smirks at fiddly foo-foo paintbrushes .

So – how do you do a wall treatment that involves relative ease, but produces AMAZING results?

read on my friend, read on.

Fresco lime paint is a 100% natural mineral paint, made from quick lime and natural pigments. What does that mean to us? Well, basically if you’re planning on painting over drywall, oil or latex paint, you need to use a primer for good adherence. And the primer you should be using is Wall Prim (it comes in two sizes 1L and 2.5L). And I would advice that you use the same color primer as your wall color. In my case, I chose Steel Blue.

(on a side note, did you know that Fresco is Italian for ‘working wet’).

Me either. So it would seem that as a ‘menopausal painter’ I work ‘Fresco’ often. You’re welcome.

But I digress. Back to painting. Pure & Original advise you to tape your edges (personally I hate tape, so I skipped this step). You can paint or roll on your primer; I rolled it on. Just one coat. And let it dry. I left it overnight. Then on to the fun stuff! When you open the can of Fresco, you kinda stop and wonder what the heck that is inside the can! Because it’s thick. REAL thick. Once you read the instructions, you realize that you need to dilute it (phew, thank goodness!). Usually it’s about 20% water that needs to be added. In my case, because I choose a dark color (with a XD base)

I needed to add additional water, about 30%.

I didn’t want too much ‘craziness’ with the brushstrokes. Because I am deeply in love with the hues of Steel Blue, I wanted to have that be the focus. You can criss cross your brush strokes, using your ‘Bad Boy’ fresco brush for a playful feel, but I used vertical strokes. One of the big No-No’s is ‘cutting in’. Don’t cut in, your edges will be dry by the time you get to them. You need to work ‘wet-to-wet’, so every edge has to be somewhat wet. I painted little squares as I went along, and then joined them up together (if that makes sense), working in small sections at a time. Very very easy.

Then you wait.

For what seems like a really long time. They say about 8 hours, in total. I just decided to wait overnight.

I would rather sleep than watch the clock tick slowly by.

On to the second step (which basically is the same as the first). Same dilution, same strokes, same gorgeousness.

That’s it. Almost anti-climatic. You expect it’s going to be so difficult. You’re going to need so much skill…so much talent.

Nope.

The hardest part is probably having to wait 10 days for the lime paint to fully cure. If you’re using it in a bathroom or kitchen, you should seal it with Dead Flat ecosealer It’s a very matte, clear finish. Because my hallway is a high traffic area I decided to seal it. I used two diluted coats (wait 12 hours or so between layers).

And you, my friend, are done. You super talented and skilled painter of walls (shhhh….it will be our little secret).

So, please. Let’s sit back, enjoy the gorgeous view.

And sing a few tunes.