I've always had flat walls, no texture and I really prefer that over anything else, especially having no texture on the ceilings. I've always painted and wallpapered my homes myself and the thought of dealing with textured walls gives me a headache.

Now I do like them under certain situations when the house has a certain distinct style that calls for texture.

I'm not sure but it seems there is a regional variance regarding textured walls. I'm in the Northeast and I think flat walls and ceilings is the norm. But I could be wrong and I'm interested in what others say.

Sky

I have knock down texture on our walls. I would have preferred flat walls (no texture) but I would have paid a fortune for that. Texture seems to be the norm here (upper Midwest) in newer homes.

Can you actually wallpaper over textured surfaces?
Astrid

I live in Florida, and have knockdown on our walls. I really don't mind it...the builders weren't exactly perfectionsists, so it helps mask some not-so-perfect areas in the drywall. Most of the newer homes here have texture, so it's not out of the norm.

This again is one of those regional things. When I was asking folks over in the building forum there were some very strong opinions. LOL!

I'm in the PNW and orange peel is pretty common for walls and knock down or brocade for the ceilings. You can get different degrees of the orange peel. Ours is really subtle and not very bumpy. I've rarely seen smooth walls anywhere out here. I like the texture actually. It helps hide flaws in your wall as well as paint.

Here in TN, is seems that knock down is popular in new houses. I prefer and have smooth walls. The sheet rock guy tried his best to get me to do the knock down when we put on our addition, but I get tired of things quickly and thought I would tire of it. I'm still trying to get rid of that popular popcorn ceiling in the older side of our house!

Robbi

I'm in the Pacific Northwest also, and have orange peel on the walls (i didn't even know i had a choice in the matter when the house was being built). But as it turns out, i like it. It's very forgiving, and it seems i can't hang anything without putting additional holes in the wall i'll have to fill. "Maybe just a few inches to the left?"

:)

my brand new house in south texas has the orange peel texture. that seems to be what's popular right now. a few years ago, knockdown was the most used.

I have knockdown and I really like it. It's not too hard to apply either, so you might consider it if you decide to redo yours.

Red

I remember one of those thread over in the home building forum that Lindybarts was talking about. Someone gave a pretty good link showing the different textures and their names. I've linked it below.
The only way I can discribe mine is it's an imperfect flat texture. It's flat but every now and then you see a tiny trowel mark. I think it gives my wall a personality. LOL

Here is a link that might be useful: Drywall school textures pictures

oceanna-
My house was built in 1930 (my grandfather built it here on the farm-all the wood was cut here on the farm)and it is all white oak and walnut. All of my downstairs rooms had the sand texture walls-I guess you would call them perlite or sand texture. The first time I wallpapered my dining room I fought with it and ended up putting a liner under my wallpaper and it stayed that way for years. When I redid it last year I got smart--I used the granite paint in a sand color (and added granite crystals) and under the chair rail I put a dark forest green. I used a Robert Kincaid farm scene border at the top. I have to say it is my most favorite room in the house. We have a chandelier in the dining room and when that is on there is just the slightest "pop" of twinkles on the walls. Everyone that has seen it absolutely loves it-including my husband who is extremely hard to please.

Back in MA we had flat, now in FL we've got orange peel - which I prefer over the flat, much more forgiving and if you say...pull out a huge mirror in your bathroom so you can put up 2 framed mirrors and need to patch and refinish the walls it is easy to hide any imperfections :). The newer homes in this area feature what they call "spanish lace", which is listed as a feature by builders and in RE listings. I personally like the orange peel texture over the spanish lace, but I think I might be the only one.

Nat

I am in southwest PA and practically no one around me has smooth.

Even a 2 million dollar house DS and I were recently in had textured walls and ceilings.

Yes, I like textured walls but not for the whole house and I like textured ceilings. I had nontextured ceilings all my life and they show all the imperfections after a couple years. They must be painted far more frequently than textured ceilings. JMHO.

I have orange peel or Monterey drag, except in the living room and dining room. In those rooms, we have a rough stucco texture that reminds you of an old Italian wall. I love them.

I really like flat (no texture) walls and ceilings, so that's what I got - and for an upcharge as well. The sand texture isn't so bad, to me, but the knock down and popcorn textures just are not my style. In an older house, after re-doing a room, the drywall guy used cornmeal (!) in order to match the existing (old) drywall, and it turned out beautifully - just a tip in case anyone else needs to match that old school "sandy" drywall texture. Maybe sand works just as well, though~

western_pa_luann, I'm in Southwest PA and I've never seen a house with textured ceilings or floors. I live in a very pricy neighborhood and we have done plenty of house shopping for both old and new homes all around the area over a number of years because we moved here, left and came back. When I asked my builder of the home we're in, he was surprised that I would even specify flat walls and ceilings as they don't do anything else but that. So I'm wondering where you are seeing textured walls and ceilings?

Sky

This is interesting. I am in MN and have rarely seen a textured wall. All the walls are flat. More ceilings have gone from popcorn to knockdown. (I still like the flat ceilings.)

Definitely flat. I'm in the deep South, and I think flat is the preferred finish here. I've looked at some new construction and I'm seeing some texture in the lower- and mid-range builder homes, and in those advertising themselves as "Old World." And the rounded outside corners in archways, etc. seem to be the thing now. I guess those are hard to finish smooth. But I prefer flat any day -- ceilings and walls.

Now, I had rough plaster in my first house (sort of like a meringue) -- a 1929 Tudor bungalow. It was wonderful, but I had to pay a fortune to find someone who could do the finish on fresh sheet rock after a plumbing mishap.

Interesting thread, thanks for sharing all your thoughts and experiences. My dad was a builder in S. Cal when I was a kid, and we always had walls more like what Kats pictured, with stucco exteriors. Up here in the PNW I've always had orange peel interior walls. My son's house is knock down and even that looks better to me, but maybe it's just the change.

In my last house I lived with the orange peel for years and hated it. Finally, I sanded off (and probably ate) tons of orange peel so I could wallpaper. It was an awful job. Then I papered, not all rooms but most. Everyone who visited loved the wallpaper, or at least they said so. I finally really loved the look of my house in every room. Walls that had seemed cold and plastic warmed up like a big ol' hug and people loved being there.

When I went to sell, the r.e. folks said the wallpaper had to go. So my son and I steamed and peeled off all the wallpaper (another awful job, including clear up to vaulted ceilings in the LR) and my son sprayed the orange peel back on the walls and then I painted everything in the whole house. The house looked brand spanking new, with new or refinished floors throughout. Turns out the folks who bought the house would have loved the wallpaper as their style of decorating was the same as mine. I probably could have just painted, too, without putting the texture back. Live and learn.

Here in this house I have wallpapered only above a chair rail in my bedroom and just went right over the orange peel. It does show through a little but it's not too bad I guess. At least if I remove the paper I won't have to re-spray the walls. I still haven't decided if I want to keep the paper (a very subtle thin sage/white Ivey Leage stripe).

I hate the orange peel texture. I just don't like the look of it. But my experience is so limited. Maybe if I had flat walls I wouldn't like them and would decide the orange peel is better, I dunno. At least it was heartening to read that some of you like the orange peel. I don't want to sand again in this house -- at least not whole walls, though if I do faux wainscot I will do the lower walls, and that will be only on the staircases. IF.

My daughter's house had horrible old dark fake panelling in the master. I happen to absolutely adore painted panelling. She hates it. She troweled venetian plaster over the whole thing, another awful job.

I had wainscot panelled my hallway and family room (a big job) with fake panelling in my last house, in a medium fairly heavy grained wood look. I loved it! I had some dogs at the time that would scratch themselves by leaning against the hall walls and walking down the hall and I was forever washing those walls (and bathing the dogs pretty often). To paint or wallpaper above the panelling one only had half the time, half the work, and half the cost, which was a wonderful bonus since the wainscoting never was painted, didn't show dirt and cleaned easily.

When I got the house ready for sale on the r.e. agents' advice, I primed and painted the wainscoting plus all the woodwork in the house stark white. I painted the top of the family room and hallway in Navaho White. To my surprise, the subtle difference in the two colors looked absolutely fabulous! But I'll bet with her dogs the new owner is spending a lot of time with a scrub bucket in hand washing the white wainscot. However... I'm considering white wainscoting here even with my five dogs because I love the look of it. With the bottom panelled it makes the more limited amount of texture on the walls easier to live with and gives the walls a better overall look, IMO.

Most of this house has white woodwork and I love the look but I'm forever washing it and repainting it. The rooms with their floor-to-ceiling orange peel drives me nuts.

Sure sounds like people have strong opinions on wall texture, so at least I'm not alone in that. lol

I have flat walls and I never had anything else. I fell in love with my townhouse for many reasons and one of the reasons was the unique popcorn ceiling that I am finding out per HGTV is out of style. I like the looks of of the popcorn ceiling (made with strofoam balls) but it is a pain to paint and I am finding out creates other problems if one wants to put in ceiling lights in my home office.

I used to live in a suburb of Chicago, and I never saw anything other than flat. Here in central Florida, all I see is knockdown. I prefer flat, but I don't hate knockdown as much as I used to.

We heard the same thing that Mari did, that knockdown can hide a lot of faults - so cheaper and easier for the builders.

Ours is a ~110-year-old house in the Southwest that has genuine, smooth plaster in most of the house, and some classic stucco in the later 1926 addition. I just love these old, imperfect surfaces. We have just one wall where we couldn't save the old plaster and we'll use drywall on it. I wish we could afford a plasterer or that we were skilled enough to try replastering it ourselves, but it looks to be tricky and I can see a huge disaster if we got in over our heads with it.
I agree that some types of textures are very appropriate to some types of architecture in some places.

HATE texture of any kind. Though it's obviously appropriate in some homes. We've had plaster which is a lovely finish, though a pain to hang things on and patch.

I've never had texture until this house. Ugh. It looks like a skin disease. I've minimized it by using flat paint everywhere we have texture. Eggshell and satin just emphasize the texture, yuck. And doing repairs sucks.

Some of our walls are actually flat, though, because the previous homeowner had a lot of wallpaper and the walls were skim coated before the paper was put up. They needed a little sanding before we painted, but they are sooo much nicer to me. Next house we buy, if there's texture, I'm getting rid of it one way or another.