Additionally, get a book that gives detailed instructions to follow. Some of the techniques look like a one step process, but actually involve several different steps and 3 or more paint colors. If your local library offers an online service for putting books on hold (or a computerized service for searching), look up painting and faux finish books. If you have the option, organize the books by copyright date. That way you can look at the most recent books first as they are the most likely have the current styles that you're looking for. Getting them at the library is the cheapest way to do it, and lets you peruse many more books than you may if you have to pay for them. If you can't get them at your library, compare prices at your local home improvement store, bookstores, and online sites such as Amazon and EBay.

One of the easiest to apply, after some careful prep work, is a glaze. You can apply a glaze that is a slightly darker tone of the same color just to add a little texture, to catch the light, or to give an impression of depth, or you can apply a glaze that is totally different to get a bolder more decorative look. An example of the first method would be giving wood a more aged look Paint the base coat in whatever color you like, maybe a light brown or cream. Then you apply a glaze that is a darker version of the cream or brown and lightly wipe it off (or in depending on the look you're going for) leaving the glaze behind in the crevices where the wood is joined or that are formed by the grain. If you put only a light base coat, this can highlight the grain of some woods beautifully.

Additional methods use a metallic paint under a thicker stucco-like paint and texture that make it look aged, giving it a nice patina, somewhat like a villa in Italy. This one can look great, or really bad, so it's a prime method for the practice, practice, practice rule. Once again, you need to prep the surface by sanding down any rough spots (although they won't be highlighted the way they are with glaze) and thoroughly cleaning and drying the surface to be painted. The patina surface (metallic) is applied first and with some paints then dry-rubbed after it is dry to produce the sheen. The stucco-paint is applied afterward, sometimes with a mold set over the metallic surface to leave spots where the metallic shows through afterward.

There are also many options for painting on wood trim, rock or brick, columns, stucco, and wallpaper. The will involve several colors of paint to make sure that the stone or brick or wood look authentic. The wall paper option is nice because it's easier than putting up actual wall paper (which many stores don't even carry anymore anyway) and when you're tired of it it's a lot easier to get rid of as well.