A year or two ago, these kinda techniques just DIED at our store. Nobody inquires about sponging/ragging anymore...

Trends now seem to be heading towards skimmed-on plasters...some with multiple hues in them.
Also, the Modern Masters Rusting and/or Patina-ed solutions on top of their tinted Shimmerstone bases look awesome!

A couple of Realtors I know mention their clients often "shudder" at most spongeing jobs now...

(NOT tryin' to burst your bubble, but up here anyway...spongeing is "dead")

Faron

Too much sponging done, I can see why. I never really liked it when totally different colors used. However, I did it in my bedroom using 2 very similar colors, a sky blue and another blue very, very close but with a bit more to the purple/grey, but still blue, this was done over white paint. I still really like it. I still somewhat like it done with a wooley, but I think using to similar colors looks really nice, you get a more mottled look rather than an explosion of color.

I was a "sponging queen" back in the early-mid 1990s...but it's no longer "in". You should try glazing...it will give your walls a leather look or if they are textured, more of a Venetian plaster look...very dramatic and beautiful. Good Luck.

Does the glaze technique work if you have regular textured walls (lots of little dots, not big trowels of plaster)? I've seen it done on walls with the latter but not with the latter.

I tried this "bamboo linen weave" effect on my living room walls and am quite happy. It gives the look of venetian plaster and was easy -- but time consuming -- to do. It also hid all the imperfections in my 161-year-old horse-hair plaster walls. Take a look: http://rootsliving.com/?p=130

Here is a link that might be useful: Bamboo Linen Weave (venetian plaster)