Special effects with Joint Compound

In this edition of our blog I decided to focus on a peculiarity of mine - I have an affinity for joint compound. I don't use it for it's primary intended use - which I think is covering the joints of sheets of drywall. But I do like to use it to add texture and interest to walls. The reason a person would use this instead of textured wall paper or any other application is that it is very cheap in comparison. (In all fairness, I must add that what is saved in $$$ is certainly expended in energy to apply the joint compound.) Being the penny pincher I am - I have applied joint compound to many of the walls in our house. In case any of you are interested in the finer arts of decorating your walls with joint compound (hereafter referred to as JC), I am going to summarize the process. If you are not interested, you had better click off right here!

The first step involves lugging home from Home Depot (or similar store) buckets of the stuff. As the buckets weigh over 60 pounds each, I really suggest buying it when there is a willing helper to put it in the cart, lift it into the vehicle and back out again and carry it to the place where you are going to use it. Don't let the helper get too far away at this point, as the next obstacle is getting the bucket open. Most brands have a lid with unreadable instructions impressed in the plastic and a picture indicating using a large screwdriver to break open all these little slots around the edge - which turns the edge of the lid into a round serrated disc much like a huge plastic sawblade. After breaking all the little slots, you are supposed to use the screwdriver to pry off the lid. The best tool to actually get this job done is to have your "willing helper" get the lid off - or you will end up breaking at least a couple fingernails really badly plus barking your knuckles on the rough sharp plastic.

Now the fun begins! For the technique in the picture above and below, which I call "Distressed Plaster," I like to use a 4-inch putty knife to glop some of the JC into a paint tray. Have you seen the paint rollers that look like they are made from big loops of thick strings of plastic? That is what I used here to put the JC on the wall. (Expect the floor surface to get pretty messy - cover it with plastic or newspapers if it can't be cleaned off easily. JC is water soluable even after it is dried - so clean up is easy.) After rolling a section of the wall that is around 4 foot by 4 foot, use a flat trowel to smooth out some of the roughness created by the loopy roller. The thicker you apply the JC, the smoother it will become when you trowel it out. So for lots of color variation, apply it pretty thin and don't trowel it out too smooth.

After letting it dry completely, roll on a basecoat of light-colored paint. The second coat is a darker paint color thinned with glaze. After applying a workable area of the glaze, use old tee-shirts wrung out in water to wash the glaze/paint off. The darker color will stick in the rough places, making it look distressed. All in all this techinque is a whole lot of work. But once it is done, it looks really good! I did part of the walls in our rec room, pictured above and in the close-up below - and we love it.

Closeup of Distressed Plaster technique.

Mud room/entry way with bricks and texture made of joint compound.

The bricks were made of joint compound that I mixed the color into before applying it to the wall. I would not suggest doing it as I did it - using Rit dye - as it is not really made to dye this type of material. However - I often use what is on hand, and that was all I had available, so that is what I used here. I painted the wall the color I wanted the mortar to be. Using a level and a yard stick, I marked out 2" by 4" bricks with pencil. Dave cut a roll of masking tape to 3/8 inches wide and we applied this along all the lines, overlapping at the joints of tape. I trowelled on the colored JC and smeared some additional white JC here and there so the color was not even on the wall, leaving it a little rough here and there. While still very wet, we pulled off the network of masking tape to expose the mortar lines, then let it dry. I applied a sealing coat over the top. This sounds easier than it turned out to be. I will not bore you with details, but all did not go well - and it is fortunate it ended up looking as good as it did!

Upper wall in entry way.

Above the bricks I did the same technique as the distressed plaster - using the loopy roller. However, I just painted it one color - didn't use the glaze overtop to accentuate the roughness.

Dining room wall.

The dining room walls and the lower half of the living room walls are similar. I used a 4" putty knife to apply the JC in random strokes.

Sponge painted stripe around living room - with raised stenciled design in joint compound.

Using a putty knife, I applied JC tinted with paint through a stencil.

Bedroom wall.

In the bedroom, I applied the JC with a wallpaper brush then partially smoothed it with the trowel, leaving some of the brush strokes visible.

Closeup of bedroom wall.

Bathroom wall.

This technique did not use joint compound. The texture is visual. I put two colors of paint in the pan at once and blend them on the wall. I think it looks better in real life than it does in the picture.