We recently spent an entire day schmoozing. Our brand of schmoozing did not involve an iota of jargon nor a scintilla of idle chatter. It did, however, involve paint and plastic. That's today's offering "schmoozing" and other unusual texturing and painting processes.

When you paint or decorate the walls of your home choices must be made what color to use, what pattern will be interesting, unusual, fun?

Consider texture and pattern painting. The possibilities are as endless as the techniques you and your friends and family are able to come up with.

Some techniques can be achieved with one coat of good old-fashioned standard water-base wall paint while others require texture paint or glazing paint and-or multiple coats.

Texture painting is about as easy as it gets.

There are two kinds of texture painting light and heavy. For light textures such as stipple painting or shallow swirls, premixed texture paint is satisfactory. For heavy work, it makes more sense to buy your paint in powdered form 25-pound sacks are common and mix the powder to the consistency that gives the effect you want.

The consistency will depend on the pattern you decide to create. Regardless of which application technique you decide to use, the result will differ as the consistency of the texture paint is altered more water, less consistency, less water more consistency.

With texture painting, practice makes perfect. Use old cardboard boxes as a base to get your technique down pat. And remember, texture painting should be viewed just as you would any other painting process. In other words, where you wouldn't paint wood trim with wall paint you would also not paint wood trim with texture paint. This, of course, is where masking tape can prove to be handy.

By the way, if you plan to do much painting of any kind in your home, it would be wise to invest in a masking machine. Masking machines assemble and apply masking paper and tape in one fell swoop. This is a time-saving device that is well worth its $25 cost.

Texturing tools are easy to find, and include various length nap paint rollers, paint brushes, whisk brooms, house brooms, concrete trowels, grout trowels, sponges, fingers, putty knives, rakes and more. Use your imagination.

Once the textured surface has dried, consider employing light sponge painting. The results can be delightful. Dip your sponge in a chosen color, wipe the excess off on the edge of the paint container, and begin dabbing gently. Try this on your test board first. Adding a glaze to the color you selected will lighten your color a bit and make it somewhat translucent.

If texture painting seems like too much work, consider pattern painting which includes schmoozing, sponging a non-textured surface and more.

With pattern painting you may decide that you will want to use several different colors to create the desired result. Pick the colors, and use a sponge to apply the paint. Using water-base paint, which dries quickly, allows you to use a second, third or fourth color right after you apply the previous one.

Most folks know about sponging, but not too many are familiar with schmoozing. To schmooze, lay a layer of plastic over a freshly painted surface. Pull the plastic away from the wall to create a marbling pattern.

Schmoozing requires the use of a paint additive called glaze. The glaze adds transparency to the paint, creating interesting special effects. Makers of fine paints offer "how to" videos and printed materials.