I prefer the plaster look texture, myself. There are all kinds. Designers here prefer smooth. But you have to want to pay for it.

Go with the bottom texture, which looks smooth from a distance, or the least amount of texture they will do. I've never had perfectly smooth walls without some texture. It would be very hard to hide anything without a small amount of texture, whether for the initial builder or later when you put a picture hanger in the wall and then want to patch and move it later. Even our custom $2 million CA home had textured walls. The knockdown texture though is quite a bit heavier, and I would try to stay away from that. One thing that helps the look is using an eggshell or flat finish rather than shine.

I prefer smooth, but it's much easier to spend someone else's money!!

View 2 is more timeless than view 1, so that would be my first choice.

Everyone here does smooth, too. Can someone explain why a texture would cost more? Seems counterintuitive.

Lindsey, exactly my thoughts! However, I just learned that spray texture is done with a spray gun and is a lot faster to do. My house would take only one day for spray application, but 5 days for smooth wall texture. Smooth texture is applied by hand and requires about 3 coats with drying time in between, and involves more mud material. ARGH! I like the modern smooth texture, but I think I will settle with the second textured, as I agree with the previous commenter. It might not be very noticeable with flat paint.

If I had to choose between the two photos I would go with the second choice. However, if you prefer the smooth walls, now is the time to do it. Yes it will take more time and cost thousands more, so in the end you may decide it is not worth it, but if it in in the budget and it is what you really prefer I suggest you go for it!

HI -- I would not buy a house with textured walls . Smooth walls in a higher end house is expected I think . Textured walls is a cheaper finish . Smooth walls take more care to finish . Doing textured walls seems to be an American thing to do . Greater value in doing smooth walls .

I agree with Tangela, smooth is the way to go. We had a contractor cover up our knock-down textured walls with a thin drywall. Very labor intensive to do that, but well worth the clean and elegant finish. Flat paint of course.

Obviously I don't know how much you're spending, but with pricing in my area to build that size home, $5000 is less than 1% of the total cost to build. You say you're not inclined to do that--is that because you don't have the budget (nothing wrong with that) or because you want to put that money elsewhere (nothing wrong with that either), or...

Literally no house here has textured walls. Zero. So I have no idea what we are doing differently to be able to work that but I do know I have also never seen anyone put three coats of anything on a wall. Tape, mud, sand, mud to smooth any remaining irregularities, sand, prime, paint.

Am I missing something?

Knock down texture is faster and requires less labor so the cost is less. There is a lot of work that goes into smooth walls, hence the extra cost. It is rare to see, here. We have different styles of texture, but I have never seen smooth texture in person, and I have been in a lot of homes. You will see different texture on ceilings a lot because it is difficult/a lot of work to do them in anything else besides knock down. It is generally discouraged here because drywallers don't want to do it. I like the plaster look of texture, but I couldn't pay them to do the ceiling, because they wouldn't do it.

Wow, the responses are all across the board! I live in a very ordinary looking/ old neighborhood of very expensive homes, thanks to Bay Area madness. Most of the homes on my street were built in the 60's and are minimally remodeled or original condition, just like our fixer upper was before demo. Since this remodel has financially tapped us already, we compromised and decided to do something some of you will disapprove of: Smooth/"old world" texture on the main level (open floor plan) and stairway. Then the lightest spray on texture possible upstairs where the bedrooms are. PLUS, we need to move in ASAP and leaving the upstairs according to plan will prevent a 1 week additional delay. My thought: Visitors will rarely go upstairs but when they do, I doubt they will really notice the difference. Before this was brought to my attention, I had not even given more than 10 seconds of thought about wall textures, but since my eyes are opened.... this was our decision after our 24 hour decision dilemma. Thank you Houzzers!

All the best in your new home, if you find joy there that's all that matters. I'm sure it will be beautiful.

In CA you're going to see some form of spray or spray knockdown texture on nearly every home built from 1960-the late 1990s, then hand troweled "imperfect smooth" on most customs after 1996-2004ish. Prior to drywall, there's a lot of plaster or plaster board with hand troweled sand plaster (see above) that I also like as I'm currently living in one built around 1957 awaiting the remodeling schedule.

The numbers and time you're quoted sound reasonable.

Almost 100% of current customs are imperfect smooth over drywall while most production are spray and/or knockdown texture.

Remodeling is the exception. Will it give you value in a 60s-80s neighborhood? Maybe. Will flippers do it....? LOL. Will it update the home. Absolutely!

Smooth walls are more expensive because you have to be perfect! Which takes more time and time is money.. there’s even a thing called level 5 finish which is too if the line smooth. Knock down and orange peel are less forgiving but usually shot inconstantly. Also a pain when pitching a hole.. yes the less sheen the less you’ll notice if you do a light orange peel.. if you want some texture.. we always run flat on ceilings to help hide flaws. hooe this helps..