When I first mentioned concrete walls to my husband, he put down his coffee and gave me that look. The one that says “please don’t make me carry bags of cement up three flights of stairs.” I had to explain — no, not actual concrete. A paint technique that mimics the raw, industrial look of concrete. The kind you see in those impossibly stylish Copenhagen loft apartments and Berlin hotel lobbies.
He was sceptical. I was sceptical too, honestly. I’d seen tutorials online that made it look effortless, but I’d also attempted enough DIY projects to know that “effortless” usually means “they edited out the four hours of frustration.” But our TV room wall was painted a sad shade of builder’s beige that I’d been staring at for three years, and I was ready to try anything.
Two attempts, one minor breakdown, and about €65 later, I had a concrete accent wall that genuinely makes people ask if it’s real. Here’s exactly how I did it — including the first attempt that went very, very wrong.
Why a Concrete Effect Wall Works So Well in Nordic Homes
There’s something about the raw, unfinished aesthetic of concrete that sits beautifully alongside Scandinavian design. It’s got that same honesty — no pretence, no excessive decoration. Against warm wood floors and linen textiles, a concrete-toned wall adds depth without heaviness. It’s the architectural equivalent of wearing a perfectly fitted grey cashmere jumper.
In our apartment, the TV room connects to the living room through an open archway. The concrete wall creates a visual anchor for the TV side without it feeling like a completely separate room. It’s subtle enough to work with our lighter palette but strong enough to make a statement.
If you’re trying to figure out what colour story works for your home, I wrote about choosing the right colour palette for Nordic interiors — concrete grey is surprisingly versatile.
Materials and Products
I tested two different product lines before finding what worked. Here’s what I’d recommend from the start:
Paint (from Värisilmä / K-Rauta):
- Teknos Biora Balance, base coat — shade “Paper” (a warm off-white, almost greige) — 1L tin = €22
- Teknos Biora Balance, top layers — shade “Granite” (medium warm grey) — 1L tin = €22
- Teknos Biora Balance, highlight shade — “Pebble” (lighter grey) — 0.5L tin = €14
I specifically chose the Teknos Biora Balance range because it’s designed for interior walls, it’s low-VOC (the smell is minimal — important in a Finnish apartment where you can’t exactly throw all the windows open in January), and the matte finish is essential for the concrete illusion. A satin or gloss finish will ruin the effect completely. Concrete is matte. Your paint needs to be matte.
Tools and supplies:
- Large natural sea sponge (from the art supply section at Taidetarvike, Kamppi) — €8
- Plastic drywall trowel / smoothing tool, 25 cm — €5
- Wide paint roller (25 cm) with short nap sleeve — €7
- Painter’s tape — €4
- Drop cloths — already had these
- Spray bottle with water — from under the kitchen sink
- Small bucket for mixing — free (old yoghurt container)
- Fine sandpaper, 220 grit — €2
Total materials cost: approximately €84 for a wall area of about 8 m². Considering that decorative concrete-effect plaster kits run €40+ per square metre, paint is significantly cheaper.
What Went Wrong: Attempt Number One
I’m including this because it will save you from my mistake.
On my first attempt, I skipped the light base coat and went straight in with the dark grey as my first layer. My logic was “concrete is grey, I want grey, let’s just do grey.” The result looked like I’d painted the wall during a power cut. It was flat, lifeless, and about three shades too dark. There was none of the tonal variation that makes real concrete interesting. It looked like a prison wall. Not the aesthetic I was going for.
I stared at it for a full day, hoping it would grow on me. It did not.
The key insight I was missing: real concrete has depth. It’s not one colour. There are lighter patches where the mix was slightly different, darker shadows where water pooled, subtle warm and cool variations. You need at least three tones to recreate that, and the base coat needs to be the lightest one.
I painted over the whole thing with the off-white base and started again the next weekend. Lesson learned.
Step 1: Prepare the Wall Surface
Finnish apartment walls — at least in buildings from the ’70s and ’80s like ours — are typically very smooth. Tasoitettu seinä. They’ve been skim-coated and painted with that standard matte white paint that every landlord seems to use. This is actually ideal for the concrete technique. You want a smooth surface.
If your walls have any texture (from previous bad paint jobs, wall damage, etc.), sand them smooth first with 120-grit paper and wipe down the dust.
Clean the wall with a damp cloth. Remove any outlet covers. Tape off the ceiling line, adjacent walls, and any trim. I used Tesa precision painter’s tape — the blue stuff. Cheap tape will bleed and you’ll spend forever cleaning up edges.
Move furniture away from the wall. I know this sounds obvious, but I started taping with the sofa still pushed against the wall and had to stop and move it ten minutes in. The sponge technique gets messy.
Step 2: Apply the Base Coat
Roll on a full, even coat of your lightest shade (I used “Paper” — a warm, slightly grey-tinted white). Use the wide roller and work in even, overlapping strokes. This doesn’t need to be fancy. It just needs to be uniform.
Let it dry completely. The Biora Balance dries to touch in about an hour, but I left it overnight. Rushing the drying time between layers is how you get peeling and muddiness.
Step 3: The First Texture Layer
This is where it gets fun. And messy. Put on old clothes.
Pour some of your main grey (“Granite”) into the yoghurt container. Dampen your sea sponge with the spray bottle — not dripping wet, just damp. Dip one face of the sponge lightly into the paint, then dab off the excess on a piece of cardboard.
Now, working in roughly 60×60 cm sections, press the sponge against the wall in random overlapping patterns. Don’t dab like you’re applying foundation — press and slightly drag. Rotate the sponge constantly so you don’t create a repeating pattern. Vary your pressure. Some spots should be denser, some barely there.
The instinct is to cover the wall evenly. Fight that instinct. Real concrete is patchy. Leave some areas where the base coat shows through more. These lighter patches are what create the illusion of depth.
Work quickly because you need the paint slightly wet for the next step.
Step 4: Trowel Blending
While your sponged layer is still damp (you have maybe 10–15 minutes depending on your room temperature), take the plastic trowel and lightly drag it across the surface in long, sweeping strokes. Not hard — barely touching the wall. You’re smoothing out the sharpest sponge marks and creating those long, linear drag marks that real concrete has from the formwork.
This step terrified me the first time. It feels like you’re ruining what you just did. You’re not. The trowel blends the sponge texture into something much more convincing.
Wipe the trowel frequently on a rag. If paint builds up on it, you’ll get streaks.
Go in mostly one direction — either horizontal or slightly diagonal. Real concrete walls show the direction they were poured, so consistent trowel direction adds to the realism. I went with slight diagonal strokes, upper left to lower right. It looked more natural than perfectly horizontal.
Step 5: Add the Second Tone
Once the first texture layer is dry (I waited 4 hours, though 2 would probably be fine in a warm room), repeat the sponge-and-trowel process with your highlight shade (“Pebble”) — but much more sparingly. You’re adding lighter patches and variation, not covering everything.
I concentrated the lighter tone around the upper portion of the wall and the centre, with less around the edges and lower half. Think about how light hits a wall — it’s brighter at the top near the ceiling and gradually darker as you go down.
This second layer is what took my wall from “painted grey” to “actually looks like concrete.” The tonal variation is everything.
Step 6: Refine and Adjust
Step back. Look at the wall from across the room. From the sofa. From the doorway. Does anything look too uniform? Add more sponge work. Too dark in one area? Lightly sponge the lighter shade over it.
I spent about 30 minutes doing touch-ups — darkening a patch near the bottom right that looked too pale, softening an area near the ceiling where the sponge marks were too obvious. This is the artistic part. Trust your eye.
One thing that helped: I took a photo with my phone. For some reason, imperfections are much easier to spot on a screen than in person. I noticed a weird stripe on the left side that I’d walked past three times without seeing.
Step 7: Let It Cure
Don’t push furniture against it for at least 48 hours. The Biora Balance is tough when fully cured, but it needs time. I was impatient and leaned a picture frame against it after about 12 hours. Left a small mark. Had to touch it up.
You don’t need a sealer or topcoat with the Teknos paint — it’s washable once cured (about 2 weeks for full cure). I’ve wiped it down a few times since and it holds up fine.
The Finished Result
The wall has been up for about five months now, and I still love it. The texture catches the light differently throughout the day — more blue-grey in the morning when the light comes in from the east-facing window, warmer in the evening with the lamps on. It’s become the backdrop for our TV, a couple of floating shelves with candles, and a print I found at the Helsinki Design Market last spring.
What surprises me most is how warm it feels. I expected concrete-look walls to feel cold or industrial, but against our oak parquet floor, the wool rug, and the off-white linen curtains, it reads more like “modern hygge” than “abandoned factory.” It bridges the gap between raw and cosy. I wrote a whole post about Scandinavian interior design principles and this wall basically embodies the idea — honest materials, simple forms, functional beauty.
Tips I Wish Someone Had Told Me
Temperature matters. I did this in September and had the window cracked open. The paint dried perfectly between stages. If you’re doing this in winter with the radiators blasting, the paint will dry faster and you’ll have less working time for the trowel step. Work in smaller sections if your room is very warm.
Do a test patch first. I painted a 50×50 cm sample on a leftover piece of plasterboard before doing the real wall. It let me practise the sponge technique and see the colours together. Five euros worth of scrap board saved me from a potentially expensive mistake.
Natural sponges only. I tried a synthetic sponge from the hardware store first. The pore pattern is too uniform and it looks artificial — you get this weirdly repeating polka-dot texture. The natural sea sponge has random, varied pores that mimic the organic imperfections in concrete. It’s the single most important tool in this project.
Don’t do it alone. I did the sponge work alone and it was manageable, but having a second person to handle the trowel while you sponge would make it faster and more seamless. My husband helped with the second tone layer and the quality was noticeably better on the sections we did together.
Changing It Up for the Seasons
One thing I didn’t expect: the concrete wall is a fantastic backdrop for seasonal styling. In autumn, I lean a few dried branches against it and it looks like a magazine spread. In winter, the candlelight against the grey texture is moody and gorgeous. Summer gets a small vase of wild flowers. The neutrality of the concrete lets you change the feeling of the room with accessories.
If seasonal shifts in your home are something you enjoy, I wrote about transitioning your home styling from summer to autumn — the concrete wall is now my favourite surface to style against.
Would I Do It Again?
Absolutely. I’m already eyeing the hallway. The corridor from our front door is narrow and long, and a concrete effect on one side would add so much character to what’s currently just a boring white tunnel.
The technique itself isn’t difficult — it’s forgiving, even. Mistakes blend into the texture. If a section looks bad, you sponge over it. The hardest part is trusting the process during that messy middle stage where it looks like a disaster. Around the 40-minute mark of the first texture layer, I was convinced I’d ruined the wall. Thirty minutes of trowel work later, it was beautiful.
Real concrete walls in a renovation can cost €80–120 per square metre for proper decorative concrete plaster, installed professionally. My entire 8 m² wall cost €84 in materials and took about 6 hours of actual work spread over a weekend. The hardest part was waiting for things to dry.
If your walls are boring and you’re not afraid of getting paint on your hands (and your elbows, and somehow your forehead), give this a try. The worst that can happen is you paint over it. It’s just paint.
