UPDATE: Textured paint
 

A few months ago I posted a question about whether and how to use textured
paint. No replies, but I thought I would report back that we did our project
last weekend and it turned out beautifully. The textured paint is not only
easy to work with, it's fun.

Our problem was a kitchen that had, under the wallpaper we were steaming off, a
thin layer of plaster followed by another layer of wallpaper and then drywall.
In some spots we got all the way down to the drywall but in most cases we
preserved the thin layer of plaster. The whole thing needed to be evened out
and it had no texture whatsoever.

The textured paint, according to the paint guy at Home Depot, is essentially
watered-down joint compound. You apply it with a looped roller and then from
there you can either leave it or manipulate it into the texture you want. We
opted for a sweeping motion with a trowel, the effect we got was sort of
adobe-style plaster, perfect for our southwestern home.

It's a long process because you have to prime, paint with the texture and then
paint your color over it, but the results were worth the effort. It works best
with two people, on to roll on the textured paint and another to follow with
the trowel.

FWIW, that's our story.

UPDATE: Textured paint