On Oct 14, 1:15*pm, David Nebenzahl wrote:
I've been running into a fair number of drywall patching jobs lately
that involve small patches to existing walls. While I'm actually very
good at creating good, smooth, even seamless patches, one thing I don't
know how to do is to match wall textures.

Now, I'm not a professional drwyall hanger, never have been, and don't
want to be. I'm not about to invest in a lot of equipment. But I would
like to have a few common textures in my bag of tricks, so that I could
at least come close to matching the existing texture after completing a
patch.

The textures I see vary from the canonical "skip-troweled" texture to a
sort of blobby flattened oatmeal to a kind of rough old-fashioned
plaster look (on wallboard, not lath and plaster).

Any help here would be much appreciated, preferably using standard tools
and joint compound.

Here's a video that deals with a couple techniques.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVKPh0ZwxHk

A stick-on repair video (no idea how the stuff is, but it seems odd to
cover a big hole with a decal!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrtCkbEUiPY

For most small texturing of patched areas you're just going to be
winging it anyway. Have a selection of sponges of varying texture
(tight cells, open, natural sponge as used in faux painting) and a
selection of brushes (wallpaper paste, short bristled painting brush,
long bristled, scrubbing brush). You can apply the thinned compound
or take it off with any of the tools. It's easier to scrape a failed
attempt off of the wall before it sets up and start over. You may
need to take a couple of passes with different tools to get a good
result.

R