Patterned Paint Rollers

If you're thinking of making some faux effects, using stencils, or weighing the price of wallpaper against that of paint, there may be an easier and less expensive alternative: patterned paint rollers. With these special paint rollers you can get any look you want at a bargain price. They're also very easy to use, even for a novice.

There are a wide variety of patterns available so that it's possible to paint each room in your home with a different decorative roller for less money than it would cost for you to wallpaper even one room. The major investment is in some ordinary house paint and the roller, which often comes with its own applicator system.

One such decorative roller available on the market is the Rollerwall Design Painting and Decorating system. In the Rollerwall system, there are two parts. The first part is the patterned roller, a 6" wide roller crafted from rubber that has an embossed, raised pattern along its surface. The second part of the Rollerwell system consists of an applicator designed with frame, handle, and a foam paint feeder roller.

Uniform Pattern

When you're ready to paint, you roll the feeder roller into your choice of paint, attach the pattern roller and you're good to go. Rolling causes the pattern roller surface to pick up a thin, even coat of paint which is then deposited on the wall. Done with care, you should end up with a uniform pattern on your walls.

The foam feeder holds quite a bit of paint: enough for three full passes going down a typical wall. That means that you're unlikely to run out of paint in the middle of the wall. The roller is designed in such a way that drips just don't happen.

You don't need to be good with your hands or have special artistic talent to do a great job with a patterned roller. You start in the corner and allow the natural lines of the wall to guide you. When you do your next pass, you start where your last pass ended, overlapping just a touch, to eliminate any appearance of seams. It's a magical feeling to watch the pattern as it emerges before your very eyes.

Laser Accuracy

Best of all, the patterned roller eliminates the need for measuring and plumb or chalk lines because the roller has been designed with laser accuracy. A strip of painter's masking tape can be used to protect the ceiling, and so as to leave a border of half an inch, to create a natural "frame," for your faux wallpaper.

The parts of the roller can be cleaned and reused an infinite number of times. Novices are often surprised to find they can finish an entire room in one hour. One roller costs about as much as one roll of wallpaper, but lasts a lifetime.