How to paint a faux concrete wall in five easy steps

Painting a faux concrete wall is easier than you might think and you don’t need any special paints to get this effect. Let me show you how I created my faux concrete wall finish in just 5 easy steps.

Hello lovelies, I have a DIY project for you today. It is a project I did in my bathroom and I am so happy and pleased with the look I created. It is a bit of a step away from my usual bohemian whiter than white style, instead I added a bit of a rustic, industrial vibe. And I am totally digging it. I’ll show you a full bathroom reveal soon and then you’ll see that I have actually gone for a nice mix of styles that turnedd out to be very me.

faux concrete wall with accessories

I created a faux concrete wall finish on the largest and completely empty wall in my bathroom. I actually designed my bathroom around this focal wall and kept it empty exactly for this purpose.

faux painted concrete wall

The whole process of painting this concrete wall finish didn’t take up more than a couple of hours. We worked at it as a team, which made the whole process extra easy and doable. But I am sure it would have been just as easy to do it by myself, it just would have taken me an extra hour or so.

After the basic prep work like: removing dust and dirt from the wall, taping of the edges and covering the floor there are only five easy steps to follow.

close up of painted faux concrete wall

5 Easy Steps to create a faux concrete wall finish

  1. Paint the wall with your medium grey paint and a block brush with arched brush strokes
  2. Follow up with a wet cloth and soften and smooth the edges and strokes
  3. Use a scrounged up wet cloth and dab on extra texture
  4. With an almost dry block brush add vertical brush strokes with white or very light grey paint
  5. Use a wet cloth to smooth the white paint and work it into the base layer
  6. Bonus tip: Work in smaller sections so your paint doesn’t dry between the brush and cloth steps. And frequently step back to look at your work from a distance.

Now that is easy! Didn’t I say so!

close up of brush strokes on painted faux concrete wall

I think the close-up image above sums up all of those five steps pretty well. You can see the arched brush strokes, the added smoothing and texture, and the smoothed-out vertical stripes as well. And when you take a step back it just looks almost like the real thing.

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grey painted faux concrete wall with round baskets and mirror

If painting a whole wall seems a bit daunting but you still would like to experiment with this faux concrete painting technique…

Did you know you can make anything look like it is made from concrete? With simple, everyday craft paints you can paint any object with this cement paint technique. I did a thrift store makeover with cement paint technique the other day and give detailed instructions there too.

oriental bowl filled with soaps and towels

And while you go over there and peruse the other projects, I’ll just be here. Soaking in my tub, giving myself an at-home hammam treatment while admiring my homemade concrete wall. 

Win my eternal gratitude by sharing, liking, or pinning this post?

how to paint a faux concrete wall

Well guys this is it for today. Hope you like my new wall and that you will come back for the full bathroom reveal soon!

Songbird | Website | + posts

Marianne Songbird is the founder of Songbird, where she hopes to inspire everyone to create a home they love, one DIY project at a time. She shares anything from craft ideas to home decor inspiration and from DIY projects to decorating hacks. Originally from the Netherlands Marianne and her husband Lex are currently renovating a 250-year-old farmhouse in Germany.

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26 Comments

  1. What a fun way to update a wall! Thanks for sharing!

  2. What a beautiful addition to the bathroom! I love how simple your method is.

  3. I always like your style! It’s so uniquely you. This is a huge departure from pure white walls. But it suits you in the year almost 2020. Sounds strange doesn’t it? I like how you styled the walls too.

  4. Stunning! Love the finish of this gorgeous wall.

  5. This looks amazing Marianne! What a great idea!

  6. This is a beautiful finish – very stylish! I really like it!!

  7. I am absolutely loving your faux concrete wall! I can’t even tell it is faux. I love the gray tones and the swiping effect. It is perfection. (As all your projects are)
    Have a wonderful week!

  8. This is gorgeous, Marianne! I absolutely love it 🙂

  9. Wow! This looks so great! Well done and so creative!

  10. Marianne, that is amazing! I bet this would also look great on counter tops. It would just need sealing, of course.

  11. Hi Marianne, this looks awesome! Do you have a video that shows the process of how you did it…I don’t see one only written instructions?
    Thank you!

    1. Hi Tina, Thank you for the compliments. I didn’t make a video about how I did this yet. I am planning on making one. Shall I sent you a message once it’s live? It might be more than a few weeks though, because me schedule is very full.

  12. I would love to see an exact video Of you in action! Beginner at painting!

    1. It will come! I’ll send you a message when it is up. But I am struggling for time to do it all.
      But I say just give it a try. Painting is way easier than most people think.

  13. Elizabeth says:

    Thank you, this looks amazing! What would you say is the ratio of white to medium gray paints used for this?

  14. Hi, it can be normal matt grey paint I want to do it in my bathroom at the moment I have oil paint:/ and Just wonder if will it stick to it all

  15. Did you do this on textured walls? I started to try this and it didn’t seem to work for me.

    1. No, my walls were stucco and didn’t have texture. A real cement wall doesn’t have texture either so I can understand it was hard to get the look.

  16. Janie Severin says:

    I am in love with this method and the look is amazing! is there anyway you can tell me what color and sheen paint you used? I just know I’d get the wrong grey and white paint. lol thank you for sharing!!!

  17. Love this! What color did you use for the base grey?

  18. Also wondering what gray paint color you used! Love it!!

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