cipriano
Well-Known Member
I recently purchased some 13 root quadratic styrofoam diffusors to begin treating my room and I thought I would share my experiences in painting them. To make a long story short - It's impossible to make styrofoam look nice. Below is a picture of two water based paints, the top being PintyPlus Aqua Nut Brown spraypaint and the bottom being a brushable acrylic paint that Ace Hardware carries (it's in the craft section, not the paint area). The color is dark brown. I case you didn't know, you have to use water based paints on styrofoam. Oil paints with their solvents will melt the styrofoam.
The spraypaint is very difficult to get an even coat in the deep wells. It's got a real wet glossy look, so it doesn't look like wood at all. Very modern though.
The brushable acrylic goes on flat as a pancake. Easier to get a nice even coat than spraying. I was considering adding a topcoat of glossy ModPodge but decided to stick with the flat look.
I was hoping to get these pieces of styrofoam to look like wood (at least from several feet away) but that is asking the impossible. No matter how many coats you use, it's going to look like styrofoam. But at 20% the price of wood diffusors, I can live with the rough look!
The spraypaint is very difficult to get an even coat in the deep wells. It's got a real wet glossy look, so it doesn't look like wood at all. Very modern though.
The brushable acrylic goes on flat as a pancake. Easier to get a nice even coat than spraying. I was considering adding a topcoat of glossy ModPodge but decided to stick with the flat look.
I was hoping to get these pieces of styrofoam to look like wood (at least from several feet away) but that is asking the impossible. No matter how many coats you use, it's going to look like styrofoam. But at 20% the price of wood diffusors, I can live with the rough look!