Texture painting, with the pattern proved on your own wall first.
Wall textures applied by hand, combed, stippled, trowelled or rolled, over a base we've levelled first, with the pattern and depth approved on a sample panel on your own wall before we commit the room to it.
- Free site inspection
- Written, itemised quote
- 1-year workmanship warranty
- Same-day callback
At a glance
What's texture painting, and how is it different from normal painting?
Texture painting builds a pattern into the wall surface using a putty or acrylic compound worked with a trowel, comb, roller or brush while it's still wet, then coloured over. Normal painting sits flat on the wall; texture is a physical layer with depth, so the base has to be sound and level before it goes on.
When this is the answer, and when it is not.
Sending you to the wrong service wastes your money and our time. This is how to tell.
This is likely right if
- You want one wall, behind the bed, the sofa or the dining table, to read as depth rather than as another colour
- A large plain surface such as a double-height living room wall or a stairwell looks bare under flat emulsion
- An exterior elevation or compound wall needs a decorative finish, which puts it in an exterior-grade compound, an interior texture compound softens and chalks once direct sun and driven rain reach it, and the hollows of the pattern hold whatever the water carries down the wall
- The plaster carries fine crazing and slight unevenness that a flat, higher-sheen finish would only advertise
Something else comes first if
- There's damp or seepage in the wall, a heavy compound over a wet substrate lifts away in sheets, so the source has to be traced and stopped first
- You want a patch blended into existing texture, pattern, batch and the hand that applied it rarely match, so the honest answer is to redo the whole wall face
- The wall is visibly out of plane or the plaster sounds hollow, that's a levelling and plaster job before it is a decorative one
What the service includes.
Surface assessment and light check
We test the existing coating's bond, sound the plaster for hollowness and check for moisture, then look at where light enters, grazing light from a window or a wall-washer exaggerates every ridge and every join.
Sample panels
The shortlisted patterns applied at full depth on your own wall in the actual colour, so you judge them in your daylight and under your evening lighting, not from a photograph.
Base preparation and levelling
Cracks cut out and filled, hollow patches taken back, putty and sanding where the wall waves. Texture adds relief, but it copies the plane underneath it.
Masking and protection
Floors sheeted, furniture covered, and hard masking at ceiling lines, skirtings, frames and switch plates, wet compound throws further than emulsion and sets hard where it lands.
Base coat and texture application
Base coat applied and allowed to set, then the compound worked wet with the agreed tool, kept continuous across each wall face so no join line sets into the pattern.
Highlight and top coats
Glaze or metallic highlight rubbed back to bring out the relief where the design calls for it, and a sealer or washable topcoat where the wall will be touched or wiped.
Not included, or quoted separately
- Chipping off existing texture, wallpaper or POP mouldings, that's a removal and re-skimming job, quoted separately
- Replastering, or bringing a badly out-of-plane wall back to true before texture can be applied
- Structural crack repair, and any crack that needs an engineer's opinion before it is covered over
- Damp source tracing and waterproofing of the wall being finished
- Removing and refitting light fixtures, wall-washers, mirrors and switch plates
The sequence.
Inspection and light study
We measure the wall faces, test how well the existing coating is holding, and note where light enters and which fittings will graze the surface. Pattern depth is chosen against that, not in isolation.
Pattern and colour on a sample panel
One or more patterns applied at full depth on your own wall, in the actual colour. You live with them in your own daylight and under your own evening lights before choosing.
Protect the room
Masking goes on before the first batch is mixed and stays on until the compound has set. Tape pulled off wet compound tears the pattern at the edge, and a torn edge can't be touched in afterwards, it has to be re-worked into the next wet pass.
Prepare the base
Old coating scraped back or sealed with a bonding primer, cracks cut and filled, hollow plaster removed, putty and sanding until the plane is true.
Base coat, then texture
Compound is mixed in batches sized to the wall face being worked. A batch that stiffens halfway across changes the pattern from that point on, so the face is started out of direct sun and finished in one go rather than picked up again later.
Highlight, seal and hand back
Highlight or glaze where the design calls for it, sealer where the wall gets handled, then masking off, site cleared, and a walkthrough with you in the light the wall actually lives in.
What moves the price on this job.
We do not publish a rate, because it would change once someone measured your property. These are the variables that decide it.
- Measured area of the textured wall faces, not the floor area of the room
- The pattern itself, a rolled or stippled finish goes on faster than a trowelled, combed or hand-worked one
- Depth of relief, which decides how much compound the wall takes and how many passes it needs
- Condition of the base and how much scraping, filling and levelling it needs before any texture can go on
- Whether glaze, highlight or metallic coats sit over the base texture, and whether a sealer is needed
- Access and height, stairwells, double-height walls and exterior elevations need staging that a bedroom wall doesn't
Texture Painting — your questions.
Can texture be applied over walls that are already painted?
Usually yes, if the existing coat is firmly bonded. We test it by scraping and taping sections, chalky, flaking or glossy old paint has to come off or be sealed with a bonding primer, because the texture compound is heavy and will pull a weak layer away from the plaster with it. Enamel and oil-bound distemper almost always need removal rather than sealing.
Will texture hide the cracks in my wall?
It hides fine hairline crazing, because the pattern breaks up the light that makes a hairline visible. It won't hold a live crack closed. Cracks that move with the seasons, run diagonally from the corner of a window or door, or follow a slab junction will telegraph straight back through, and a crack in texture is far harder to repair invisibly than one in a flat painted wall.
Why sample panels, can we not choose from a catalogue photo?
A catalogue photo is shot under lighting chosen to flatter the pattern. On your wall the same texture reads differently: depth shows up under grazing light from a window or a wall-washer and almost disappears under flat ceiling light. Scale matters too, a pattern that looks fine on a small board can look busy across a full wall. So we apply the panel on the actual wall, at full depth.
How do I clean a textured wall?
Dust settles in the hollows of a deep pattern, and it settles quickly on anything facing a road-side window in Bengaluru. A dry microfibre duster or a soft brush attachment on a vacuum is the routine job. For marks, a damp cloth wiped gently along the direction of the pattern works if the wall has a sealer or washable topcoat. Scrubbing an unsealed texture burnishes the high points and leaves a shiny patch.
Can the texture be removed later if we change our minds?
Not by sanding or overpainting. A textured layer is a few millimetres of hardened compound keyed into the plaster, so returning to a flat wall means chipping it off and re-skimming the whole surface, closer to a replastering job than a repaint, with the dust that implies. That's why we ask you to live with the sample panel through a few days and evenings before we start the room.
Related services
- Wall Levelling and RestorationTexture copies the plane under it, so a waving or hollow wall is levelled first.
- Dampness and Seepage TreatmentIf the wall is damp, the source has to be stopped before any compound goes on.
- Accent Wall PaintingIf you want one wall to stand out without added relief, colour alone may do it.
Let us look at your walls first.
Tell us about the property and we will set up a free colour and wall inspection. You get a written, itemised quotation afterwards, with no obligation to go ahead.
- We call you back the same day to get a picture of the property and the surfaces.
- We agree a time and come out for the free inspection.
- You get the written scope and itemised quotation.
- Nothing starts until you approve it.