If you own an older home, and quite a few people do, also working on a shoestring budget? I have the answer for old cracked plaster walls.

Its called paint-n-tex and it really works if you know how to prepare and use it. First you must prepare your walls by of course taking down all pictures, etc and clean out your room. Get some painters plastic and cover the floor, taping it to the top of the baseboards, which protects your floor and baseboards, unless you plan on painting them as well.

Now prepare the walls by taking a drywall knife or spatula and scraping the cracks, which will probably chip away some plaster and paint, but dont worry, for you will be repairing this small amount of damage with drywall compound. Once all the "raised" cracks are scraped down, mix your plaster compound according to directions and apply with drywall tool. Allow to dry and then sand lightly until the area is flat, using a 220 grit sandpaper

If your cracks are not this bad, scraping wont be necessary, and you can prcoeed to the next step.

Any hardware store should carry paint-n-tex. I get it from L&M supply. It is very economically priced at just under three dollars per box, and each box will mix withtwo gallons of paint. Plenty enough for one or two rooms, depending on the size of your room.

Each box hase two bags of tex material. One bag per gallon of paint. Simply pour the bag of tex into your paint can and mix very well. It will become thick, like a drywall compound. Pour into tray just like you are painting, and using a rough roller, made for rough surfaces, proceed to roll it on. Do not over roll the area, as you get a build up of tex. A little trial and error and your room will look like a newly textured wall!

And as usual, you will want to cut in your corners, etc before proceeding with paint-tex. It works with any color paint, so you can keep your color or change it any way you please.

More decorating ideas at http://www.thepatronsplace.com

Source: www.articledashboard.com