)@

[mirth]

}

[Carrie12345]

I would probably go with a hand held sponge for smaller areas.

 

I'm just impressed by people who consider it at all. Me, I want to slap the paint on and be done! I'm a terrible decorator!

[hsbaby]

We just painted dd's room using a texturized roller. It wasn't a sponge roller, but one that was supposed to give a "crinkle" sort of effect. It was NOT fun. We ended up doing 4 (seriously) coats to get good coverage. Plus, it was really hard to cut in.....it would have looked funny if we cut in using a brush but it was almost impossible to cut in using a roller. What a mess!! But, if you aren't going for full coverage (ie. having a base coat and are just looking for a sponge effect over that), it would likely be a lot less traumatic:) I would still pick using a regular sponge over using the roller though. We found that with the texturized roller it was a lot harder to get an "even" look. You have to constantly be careful of how much paint you are putting on the roller and how much pressure you put on it when you apply it to the wallso that it looks even. Much more of a pain than I had anticipated!

[LisaKinVA]

We painted our first nursery using a textured roller (wall magic, is what I believe it was called). It was pretty easy, but we had to figure out how to cut in (can't do it the standard way).

 

If you were using a sea sponge, you would need to use the blue painters tape over the crown, or at the top of the ceiling to prevent accidents -- and then just use a sea sponge by hand to cut in (you need to use the whole sponge, though -- not just one little piece or it will look really funny).

 

For us, we had 3 colors we were using. We painted the base coat to cover, then used the wall magic rollers and different sized paint daubers to cut in. The room looked like you were in a big tree-house. We were both very pleased. It didn't take long.

 

If you're doing a small area, the hand sponge would probably be best, though.

[Harriet Vane]

I have used a roller that is textured to look like a sea sponge. I really, really love it. I use it together WITH a hand held sponge. I first paint a base coat, then use the sponge in a different shade over that base coat. Finally, I use the sea sponge to spruce up spots. For doing a whole room, this is definitely much quicker than using a hand held sponge for the whole thing. The end result is fabulous--I have received many compliments on those rooms over the years.

 

One other option that is far quicker is to apply a color wash. My sister-in-law did this. First apply a base coat. Then mix the color wash with a different shade of the paint, and brush or rub on the wall with a sponge. The effect is more subtle than when you have used the sponge to "pounce" or dab paint onto the wall. It looks really classy when done.

[cjzimmer1]

I used that exact roller for two rooms in our house. I hand sponged my boys room and it was a royal pain. It looks okay but the edges and corners never turned out because there was no way to really get the sponge in there. Then I rolled my living room. I pushed really hard and ran the brush in many directions so that you can see some brush strokes. It looks fabulous. Every time I have someone new over, they always comment on how great the room looks. Then I used the roller for my daughter's room. I applied a medium pink with a regular roller and the sponge rolled a dark pink over it and then I sponge rolled a very light pink over the previous 2 layers. It turned out very well too. I found the sponge roller MUCH MUCH easier to use than a hand sponge.