If you want to hide the cracks and holes in the stucco and give walls a fresh and restored look simply paint the stucco. And though stucco is only one of the many options available for refurbishing the walls it’s still the most popular one. In general, the stucco restoration process includes three stages:

Preparation stage. Pick textured or stucco paint, depending on how badly cracked the ceiling or walls are. Remember, the paint should be bought generously because the worse the wall, the more paint you’ll need. Then, of course, read the paint label carefully. Generally, lightly textured stucco paints are usually mixed with sand and other small aggregates while heavy stucco paints are ready to be applied with a trowel or a roller.

Before starting to work, prepare the surfaces to be stuccoed. If you are planning to stucco clean walls, with no large open cracks, you can leave the furniture in the room. In case you’re stuccoing the ceiling or the surfaces that require obvious preparation all the furniture and accessories should be move out. You can use drop cloths to cover the floor or those pieces of furniture that cannot be moved out. Masking tape will help to protect light fixtures, woodwork, and faceplates.

When the room is filthy or greasy, clean all surfacing to be stuccoed with a solution of strong household detergent and hot water; rinse the dirt off and let the area dry completely. If small cracks can be easily filled in by the paint large cracks need to be filled with spackling compound, pressing it in firmly and smoothing with a putty knife. Leave patched areas for at least 8 hours to dry completely.

Practicing stage. It’s a wise decision to experiment with the paint on a piece of scrap plywood or hardboard until you know how to get the effect you want before actually starting the stucco restoration process. Try using to use various texture-rendering tools while practicing. First of all, spread lightly textured stucco paint with a roller that has the type of cover recommended by the manufacturer. Spread thick stucco paint with a roller or a trowel. Usually the paint starts to set up as you work, depending on the humidity. As you finish applying an area of paint, go back and texture it further to produce different effects. In general, the thicker the paint you use, the coarser the texture you can produce and the worse damage you can cover.

Application stage.­ As soon as you’ve made a decision about what texture to use and mastered your technique, you can move on to applying paint to the surfaces to be stuccoed. Paint the ceiling first, again spreading the paint in small areas and texturing it as you go; start with painting corners and edges and only then fill in the main area. Use the same technique to paint the walls. Finally, let the paint dry for at least 8 hours, following the manufacturer’s instructions. Only when the stucco has dried pick up the drop cloths and remove the masking tape. To finalize clean up the area with water and liquid detergent.