love flat. in stucco (or plaster), however texture is very beautiful.

Textured looking walls can be smooth or heavily textured.

These areas would not have their distinct look without the textures.

HI -- Having textured walls seems to be a more American idea, that I have never understood . Canadians like smooth walls .

We did not encounter 'non-flat' walls until we moved to Texas and found many of the walls had a texture to them. It can be a nice look, but I've found that when I'm clumsy and put a hole in the hall, it sure makes it hard to patch! Matching the look is darn-near impossible for me (any ideas you have are much appreciated!).

Not a fan of texture. It's much easier to clean, repair, and repaint smooth walls. I know because we have orange peel, the lightest version we could talk the builder into. Having a smooth wall actually costs more, because they have to do a better taping job on the dry wall.

Re repairs: there is a texture spray sold at Lowes/HomeDepot for patching.

Lefty - here's a Canuk who loves textured walls! Of course, they have to be well done textured walls. Unfortunately it is easier to have decently made boring flat walls than it is excellent quality textured walls, so there is a caveat to my vote - yes to high quality textured walls!

HI - @ Melynda -- Lol -- it is not easier to have smooth walls !! They started texturing walls to finish not so well made walls and ceilings as a cheap cover up . If you like texture that's fine . I actually never said what I prefer . Just an observation that Americans do this more than us Canuks .

Many of walls that look textured and polished require perfectly smooth walls.

Textured walls are cheaper to install the first time. After that textured walls are very hard to match. You can always match smooth. Round these parts smooth walls (level 5) cost 50% more than textured as texture takes less skill and effort.

It's much easier to paint a faux finish - even to hire someone to do it - than it is to get rid of texture if you tire of it - or worse - want to sell and buyers don't like it. I bought a house where the previous owner was so hung up on stucco - she'd done it in almost every room. We bought the house thinking it would be easy to get rid of - in our dreams - we ended up remodeling rooms by tearing it down to the studs and having to put up new drywall.

There is a myriad of ways to create faux walls - or interesting treatments - like crackling or sponge, not to mention all the companies selling faux paint kits. I saw Martha Stewart has a line of faux painting kits. Some designer like Ralph Lauren (sp?) sorry - not in to designers, so I'm sure I spelt it wrong, but he has a large selection of faux paints - metallic - etc. All kinds of ways to do the walls without ruining the drywall.

I agree - texturing was builders ways to not have to do nice drywall -- they could skip the sanding and just cover up imperfections with popcorn ceilings, etc. Horrid stuff to me. Or worse, popcorn with that stupid swirl of the tool that should have been smoothing the drywall if they had more pride in their work.

I suspect we may all have different ideas of what "textured" means...when the word popcorn pops up, I realize that we aren't all comparing apples to apples here! LOL Yes, the kind of "texture" that popcorn comes under is an abomination! When I think of texture, I am imagining real plaster walls (not a top-coat treatment over drywall) done by a true craftsman. Given that other idea of "textured", I totally agree on how horrible it is.

After a house full of stucco - because someone loved the look - and my current house with the horrid popcorn ceiling with the swirl - ugly as sin - I definitely know there is a wide variety of ideas of textured. They also sell paint with sand in it - or kits to add sand to paint - to texture it that way - that might not be bad. I actually wish I'd tried it to cover up the ugly popcorn - but figured the popcorn is too thick (up to 1/8" in places), smooth sand walls probably wouldn't cover it. And it's not easy to fix. Not the swirl kind at least. We had to move the hole from a fixture I hated -- that was at one side of a 4' fixture, and we were installing one with a center fixture -- the hole would stand out if it weren't for how bright the bulbs are - no one's going to look up long thankfully.

And I think the textured fix is probably talking about the popcorn effect too - as I've seen it while looking for faux paints.

I actually spelled his name right - Ralph Loren makes paints with faux metallic - suede - leather - denim - canvas - etc. to appear textured or they may actually produce a little bit of the textured feel - without going crazy.

Meant to include these

Then I spelt his name wrong - lol - Ralph Lauren - you'd think a Laura could remember that!

Well, i would do a light texture on those walls, kind of European or even Greek style, keep them white , use a nice plaster effect, even an iridescent one like Dune from Firenze...

I'm not sure that texture is cheaper than flat or that builders do it to cover up a bad job. The sheetrockers I've watched don't have any trouble taping and mudding flat walls, they're fast and efficient. They wouldn't be working for very long if they didn't do it right. Also, texture would show "bad walls" (whatever that is) as clearly as a flat wall. Loose tape will show up in both. The knockdown texture I've seen is more labor intensive and costs more in materials than taping/mudding seams. In my own experience, a builder or subcontractor wouldn't be in business long if his walls were that bad and they can provide whichever type of wall the customer wants. I've had both and I prefer a good knockdown texture over flat as I find it provides more interest and show less wear and tear over the years (it hides fingerprints, etc.) I also like rounded corners better than sharp for the same reason.

I have a light orange peel on my walls and it is pretty much the norm in this area. We have lightly textured ceilings. I'm curious about those of you who prefer flat walls, does this include ceilings as well? Just curious.

I would say carefully positioned textured surfaces among plain smooth plastered walls could be used as a feature. When construction materials such as mud ,mud blocks, wood, steel, red bricks and even concrete are used and their natural finish is exposed the look an properties of them even when used all throughout the house cannot be matched. Anyhow i would go for Smooth over texture due to ease of maintenance, simplicity and versatility.

Yes! But smooth and flat walls are also fun to decorate! There are various eye-catching customized and pre-pasted murals that can amp the ante of your home's interior design.

It depends, but I would say that the south part of America can welcome them more than the north !

I like a bit of texture, but I think that's because I go for rustic decor and a casual look. My walls are stucco over brick, which is common here in Mexico.

Textured walls just seem too fancy for me... I like plain ol paint

As I'm reading some of the comments--- Natural texture is okay.. Wood, brick, panels (in moderation)

I don't like the wallpapered texture, or stone tiled/paneled walls.

Not a fair question. Depends on the type of house and the type of texture!

Orange peel texture - definitely never, it looks like a cheap builders solution, which it is. Because smooth walls are harder, i.e. more expensive to do.

Otherwise, see first paragraph. So please qualify the question.

It all depends the context - back when smooth plastered walls were the thing and not many saw the beauty in uneven surfaces, many lovely old country houses in France lost their character even though hand pulled plaster ( not an easy technique to master ) still has the edge over modern plasterboard.

If we're talking the average modern build then most forms of stucco looks pretty contrived and gross, not to mention that it'll be a pain to get rid of and walls will require resurfacing. Why bother when there are now so many cool textured wallpapers on the market - i'm especially thinking grasscloth which can look awesome as an accent wall or even a whole room, why not.

( Recent adobe and straw bale constructions are exceptions of course, in fact it's a shame to smooth wall them i feel ).

Same goes for brick and stone veneer cladding, not to mention "shudders" . Bring out the best in your house for what it is and don't try to force it to be what it isn't.

Buying a house in Texas. I love Texas! But our brand new house has what I hear is called Monterey Drag type of walls and ceiling. I'm from Georgia originally. All I've ever known is smooth walls. More my cup of tea. We like to decorate with trim work, stripes, harlequin, etc. I know we're going to be very limited with these new walls and ceilings. When I ask why the builders do walls like that I'm always told it's because flat walls are expensive. It seems absurd to me coming from Georgia where flat walls are the norm. Buyers there wouldn't go for textured walls. No way. Is there not another reason?

I am not in agreement with those that claim matching the texture after an accident is more difficult that matching a faux finish. We used American Clay ( in amazing earthy colors) on several projects and have done a lot of faux finishes. American clay if damaged, can be reapplied with no visible difference. Faux finishes can be impossible to blend in unless the materials are kept and the same person remembers what the heck they did! We don't get to use American clay much here in Hawaii- but it is really beautiful, fun to apply and can go from smooth to heavily textured and is repaired easily.

It's hideous. And INCREDIBLY dated. Belongs in the 90s. Cannot imagine why anyone would "texture" walls or ceilings.