Finally!! The Venetian Plaster in the Foyer is done!!

Thanks to HGTV, I got another crazy notion - to do a Venetian Plaster faux finish to the Foyer. All in all, it took me 9 layers of paint and 2 rounds of sanding to finish the foyer.

Foyer Finish Steps:

• Layer 1 - Crema Biega First Coat
• Layer 2 - Crema Biege Second Coat
• Layer 3 - Crema Biege Third Coat with Heavier Edges
• Layer 4 - Crema Biege Fourth Coat to Fill In Heavier Edges
• Layer 5 - Portobella First Coat
• Layer 6 - Portobella Second Coat
• Sanding by Hand
• Layer 7 - Portobella Third Coat to Cover Crema Biege Edges Uncovered by Sanding
• Spot Sanding with Power Sander
• Layer 8 - Portobella Fourth Coat to Cover Crema Biege Edges Uncovered by Sanding
• Layer 9 - Clear Coat Protector

The instructions from Valspar said that there would only be two layers required to achieve the desired look. So, why did I end up with so many layers? Well, first the Crema Biege was so light that we could barely tell a difference between it and the white ceiling. This meant that it was very hard to pick up any variations in color in the plaster. Since this is the whole point behind the plaster, I wasn't too happy.

After partially finishing Layer 4, I knew that the Crema Biege color wasn't going to give me any variation in color regardless of how heavily I applied the edges. So, I decided to try the next darker shade. At first, I didn't like the color because this paint goes on a completely different color then what it is once it dries - you can see this in the following picture. Once the color was dry though, I really liked it - especially when I compared it against the shades for the foyer light. So, I decided to redo the foyer in the new color. To save or purchasing more of the Portobella color, I decided to fill in the deep edges from Layer 3 by finishing Layer 4.

Once Layer 4 was completed, I started on layer 5 by applying the first coat of the Portobella color. After it had dried, I applied layer 6 and waited for it to dry before I began sanding. Since my wrist was pretty sore by this point, I enlisted Tyler's help with sanding the paint. We 80 grit drywall sand paper to level out the edges from all the layers of paint. Sanding the paint meant that some of the underlying Crema Biege color was starting to show through the Portobella paint. Since I wanted the color to be consistent, I started layer 7 to cover up the Crema Biege color.

Unfortunately, after layer 7 dried I noticed a few places where the edges weren't completely sanded down. This meant that more sanding was required. At the thought of more sanding, my wrist started to throb and scream "NO!" Thus, I broke out the power sander and my wrist went "AAHHH!" I used the power sander to spot sand the few places that still had edges. I didn't want to do the whole wall because I didn't have that much paint left.As you can see below, the sanding caused quite a bit of dust to be kicked up.

Once all of the sanding was done and the final coat of paint had dried, it was time to protect everything... after all this work why wouldn't you spend the extra $17 on the clear coat protector? There was a bit of momentary panic when the clear coat protector went on because the paint turned back to the color it was when it was wet. But, as the protector dried the Portobella returned to the color it was when it was dry. But, the protector did seem to help highlight the contrasts and texture in the paint.