How to Paint an Ombre Wall (or Dresser or Anything)

Lullaby 02/17/2017

Not so long ago you might have been totally unfamiliar with the term “Ombre.” Now you see it in reference to hair, clothes, pillows, curtains, cakes – everything! Including painting. Ombre is a beautiful effect and perfect for a statement wall that will make a room go from blah to hurrah! It's also great for bringing new life to a drab piece of furniture. Surprisingly, it's really not as difficult to paint as you might assume. It takes a few extra steps than just doing one color of course, but the results are amazing and definitely worth the extra effort. Check out the inspiration and tips below for how to paint an ombre wall or dresser or anything!

What you’ll need (for painting a wall):

  • 3 shades of paints in the same hue
  • tape measure
  • painters tape
  • 3  9-inch rollers
  • 3 paint trays
  • 2 empty buckets or paint cans that you can mix paint colors in,
  • a 3 or 4-inch brush
  • 3 roller covers with ¾ inch nap
How to do it:

1. If you’re doing a single, statement wall, start by taping off all the outer edges of the wall.

2. Paint the entire wall with your lightest color. Let dry.

3. Measure the wall into 3 sections. Use a pencil to lightly mark the sections (they don’t have to be perfectly straight lines).

4. Pour some of your middle and darkest colors into separate paint trays.

5. Use a 9-inch roller to do the darkest color along the top (or bottom) third of the wall. Don’t paint all the way to the middle section with the roller. Leave about five inches between the colors. You’ll use this area for shading. (Again, none of this has to be exact. One of the cool things about ombre is that it will always come out a bit different every time.)

6. Paint the middle section with a 9-inch roller, but, again, don’t go all the way to the marks you made earlier.

7. Take your lightest and middle color and mix them up in a 50/50 ratio in an empty paint can/bucket. Use the brush and paint this in the space between the lightest and middle shade on the wall. Try to use less paint on the brush as you move into the color next to it so you aren’t creating lines but blending the colors together. This may take a little practice but this is wall art so have some fun with it!

8. Now clean that color off your brush with water and dry off before moving to a new color. Then do this same process with the middle and darkest color. Make sure you use some variation in your brush strokes so that it all has a gradual blend to it.

This video is well done and will walk you through how to paint an ombre statement wall:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lknmbTyNJyc

 

For an easy furniture update, we love this video showing how you can paint just the drawers of an old dresser to give it a contemporary look. This project doesn't require much paint so you can use sample sizes for most dresser drawers. Get three Lullaby Paints' samples for less than ten dollars to make this a very low-cost, high-impact project! https://youtu.be/I-I_R-Q4I7g Check out our Ombre Inspiration Pinterest Board to see how many ways this technique can be used!Follow Lullaby Paints' board Ombre Inspiration on Pinterest.

We hope this helps give you the confidence to try out this beautiful painting technique! If you do, share your photos with us! We love seeing your projects come to life.

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