In case a dark red paint end appears too severe on the walls or a bit of furniture, then tone it down with a faux finish. Faux techniques allow you to make the look of fabric or wood, a color wash or distressed finish, all while keeping as much or as little of the red paint visible as you want in the finished project.
Faux Bois: Fancy Name for Faux Wood Grain
Create an intriguing twist on a wood-grain finish using the dark red as the foundation “wood” color, and another colour such as indigo, black or white as the grain. A transparent glaze, mixed with a bit of a second paint color, serves as the colour for the grain. Test a few distinct glaze and paint-color combinations above a scrap of wood or cardboard painted red to determine which version you like best before handling the true project piece. After happy with a grain color, brush the tinted glaze above the red paint, then drag a wood-graining comb or rocker tool during the wet glaze to make fake wood grain. The rocker tool permits you to make knots and grain variants by rocking the tool up and down as you pull it through the glaze. Produce artificial red wood for drawers on a desk, for a funky tabletop or the portion of a wall under a chair rail, as an example.
Old or Distressed Effects
Add the look of age to a dark-red project by painting and partly removing layers of different colors. Rub candle wax over the whole dark-red area; then apply a coat of another colour of paint, such as lemon yellow. Sand through the top paint color in places that wear the most, such as on corners or borders of a table or near handles on a desk drawer. Repeat the procedure with wax and a different paint color to make the piece appear as if it has been painted several times over recent years. Another way to add artificial aging is with tinted glaze in charcoal grey or honey yellow. Rub the glaze on with a rag or foam brush; then wipe most of it away with a dry rag. Distress the piece more by hitting it with a hammer or bag of nuts and bolts a couple of times before inserting the dark glaze; the glaze pools into dents and details.
Awash in Colors
A color wash tones down the red, giving it a soft, warm appeal. Mix a tinted glaze at a shade such as white, yellow or orange to make the red seem somewhat less dark. Apply the glaze with a brush with bold crossing strokes, then wipe most of the glaze off with a rag. Go over the wet, ragged glaze with a feathering brush or a brush with soft bristles to soften the color gap between the glaze and the red paint. A darker color such as black or cobalt blue above the red adds a rich depth to the original red. Utilize the dark glaze on relatively smaller areas, such as a piece of furniture, instead of on all of the walls in a space to prevent creating the space feel overly dark.
Faux Fabrics
Produce a subtle fabric-style impact utilizing tinted glaze and rubber faux-finishing combs or steel wool. Apply gold glaze, or some other shade aside from red, above the red endeavor piece with brush; then drag the rubber comb through it in parallel lines. Leave the end as-is for a striped effect, or go on it again in a 90-degree angle for a gingham or plaid impact, depending on the tooth spacing on the comb. Create a faux raw-silk finish by pulling a ball of steel wool through wet glaze, working in parallel lines, wiping the excess glaze off the metal wool between moves. For a leathery look, apply dark glaze with a brush; then roll balled-up plastic totes through the wet glaze. Soften the effect with a feathering brush afterwards.