Faux Rock Wall

If I had to describe my ideal style of our home, I’d say Old World-European-Cottage. It’s definitely not there… but I’m really enjoying adding little elements that kinda give it that vibe.

One of the latest projects was this faux rock wall. I’d been wanting a rock wall for a while, but it was not in the budget- or so I thought. I got the idea to use joint compound after seeing someone do a similar effect with faux brick; they used tape to make a brick pattern and put joint compound over it, then peeled the tape back leaving a brick-look. I figured I could probably do something similar with the rocks. So I decided to give it a go!

First up I gathered my supplies

1. 4.5 gallon bucket of joint compound. It was WAAAAYYYY too much. 🤪 BUT I had no idea how much it was gonna take and for only $20 I just really didn’t want to have to make another trip to Lowe’s. Unless you’re doing an enormous wall you could probably just get the smaller bucket that’s like $10.

2. Taping knife (I bought a three pack of some plastic ones that worked perfectly for this project.)

3. plastic butter knife

4. some acrylic craft paint of choice, (I used a lot of white, a couple of browns and black to mix my own creams and greys but you could totally just buy the colors you like)

5. A couple of paint brushes, one bigger old or chip brush, one smaller brush for “mortar lines”

6. Tin foil

7. Drywall sponge- this double sided one worked great for adding texture. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Saint-Gobain-ADFORS-Drywall-Sponge-1-63-in-x-4-5-in-Grit-Conventional-Sanding-Sponge/50422704

8. Caulk (optional)

9. Sealer of choice - I’m using a clear matte chalk paint protective coat. (optional but recommended for ease of cleaning)

Once I had that giant, heavy bucket of mud loaded up and brought home, I lugged it in the house and just dove right in.

I started off working in sections, applying the joint compound using my taping knife, I tried to spread it out fairly smoothly but it didn’t need to be perfect. I tried to get it about 1/4 inch thick but in some places it was probably only 1/8 inch and it turned out fine.

Once I had a section loaded up with mud, I took my butter knife and drew in my rocks. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. I just did what felt right. 😄 You can definitely see the wall behind it as you scrape the rocks in, that’s okay. You won’t be able to tell later. No worries.

I worked in sections all the way down using this method. It actually went pretty fast. They don’t have to be smoothed out or anything at this point. You just want those mortar lines in. Once you’ve got the whole wall drawn out, it’s time to take a break and let it it firm up a bit. How long that takes will depend on the temp and humidity of your house. But I waited two hours before moving onto the next step.

After it has firmed up a bit you’ll take your drywall sponge, get it damp, and start lightly patting out those sharp edges using the soft side.

Once the edges were patted down, I used the rougher side of the sponge to carefully add a little texture into the rocks. Just lightly pat it on the rocks randomly to give it some bumpiness. After that, I took some tin foil, scrunched it up lightly, and then dabbed it on the rocks to add some deeper texture.

And then I went to bed and let it dry over night. The next morning it was nearly completely dry except a couple of thicker spots. As it drys it turns white.

I really wasn’t sure what to do next at this point. But ultimately decided just to go for it with the paint. I found some inspiration pictures off Pinterest that kinda helped me along. I mixed white paint with a couple different shades of brown and a dab of black paint. Beware, it doesn’t take much black AT ALL when you’re mixing paint. Alternatively, you could just buy the colors of paints you like.

Here’s a video of the fancy technique I used. I literally just dabbed paint on the whole wall, avoiding the mortar lines as best I could, and doing my best to blend it in. At times I would wet my brush and then blend the colors. That seemed to really help.

This took hours, not gonna lie. It was exhausting. But I had a certain look I was going for and I achieved it in the the end so it was worth it to me. You could however simplify this, use a bigger brush, and it would probably go much faster.

After I got the rocks painted I went in with a smaller brush and painted over all my mortar lines with white.

Almost done! I decided I wanted a bit more of a washed look, so I got just a dab of white paint on a brush and dry brushed each rock, starting at the edge and stroking inwards. It didn’t take too long and I finally had my desired look!

I still have to seal this wall, especially since it’s right next to my stove, but it is 95% done. I’ll be picking up some clear matte, water-based sealer the next time I go to Lowes and I’ll just brush it on.

I’m super happy with how it turned out. I took a boring wall and added some serious charm to it for really cheap!

What do you think? Would you try something like this in your home?