How to even out the texture across my painted walls?

Texture paint is a bit like Neil Diamond or Johnny Cash, you either like it or you don't, there is no midway of: sorta like.

Your textures are common: leather rolled c 1950s to 1970s, but estimably around 1958.

These endure but, you need maintain a collection of old tshirts and under-shirts that you cut into sq. Foot pieces, otherwise these eat cleansing rags at an expense, and also you need maintain some: pricy Grind Cloth.

You cannot cleanse these with paper towels, they eat towels of all sorts.

Old undershirts are thus fine for cleansing these.

To remove texture rather than even it to a bearable state, is pointless.

The expense of so doing removal is more than the expense of 16 quality 4×12×3/4 drywalls, and either of those require repaint anyway.

Texture paint is used, mostly to salvage old plasterboard, where wallpaper or ordinary paint would not perform the primary function of paint, which is:

To restore and protect.

The uses for texture paint is not in the kitchen, nor the bathroom, because it is harder to clean in all those cracks, textures and grooves.

In other rooms, Texture paint is a Premium on Equity, HELOC and any Real Estate in General, due to the Expense of finding a Quality Pro to do it, more prefer texture paint than regular walls, especially Artist Grade Texturings.

Unfortunately and Sadly, Yours was not done by a quality pro or artist, but was a pro, likely experienced 5 years rather than 10+ as Artist grade Pro.

My home has texture paint all throughout in places it belongs:

Foyer, Living room, Hallways, Laundry Room [hothouse] and Office.

An artist was employed for each of the jobs, in the 50s but also in the 80s to touch it up all around.

Here and there you see 'scenes', not because I went bonkers and have a Rorschach Exam in my home and am delusional, but because it was an artist employed and that was the desired outcome: family who expose, see the scenes, while outsiders do not observe them, as they expose less.

Ask any artist: There is a difference between an Artist and a Painter.

Yours involved a Pro Painter, who should not have even involved.

It is not badly done, in fact it is well done for a Pro Painter, but is not artisan level of quality.

If it was, you would not be asking how to remove the texture.

This was a job to involve a Pro Artist, and because they didn't, this is why you have these problems of unevenness.

To fix the unevenness needs realize first:

In the 30s to 80s this is usually plaster of paris, like in a cast for a

broken arm, or such the like materials that is on your walls not the same garbage materials as avail now, oft with too much silicon to result artisan grade quality.

You cannot use ordinary 'gritted sandpaper for wood' to: reduce texture.

In fact you would increase texture by: the sandpaper sanding out the depth areas.

These materials are less easy to find in general purpose stores like Home Depot or Lowes.

So you have to hunt down: Black Grind Cloths, that use for very intricate processes of Sharpening expensive knives, and collector swords and in some cases: finishing a nonfinished Marble Bust.

You maybe can find those at Cabella's Sporting Goods.

You are probably better off seeking these Cloths at a place that caters to Marble Grade Artisans in your area.

After you get those, you get ready two buckets, the first to give that area a nice scour and dip that grind cloth in Mr. Clean, a squeeze of Lemon Juice and of course water. The second as a rinse bucket, so you do not waste the mix of chemicals, nor pollute the Grind Cloth.

Rub gently and repeatedly until you like the evenness of texture.

After that dries for a few days, you can then gently paint.

I recommend painting with a flat interior paint.

Summary and keypoints

1. Never hire a painter to do an artist's job.

You will never be satisfied the results, ever you do.

2. It ain't cheap to do an expensive job...

Expecting Top Notch results from low grade materials always results a cheap appearance with an expensive aftermath.

3. The job that was done was unfinished and done in a hurry.

A factual Artisan Grade Texture Paint Job, can take 2 weeks to a month.

Usually between 120 and 160 hours, per room is par for the job.

This is why it costs $8900 to do 1 room, very well, and artisan grade.

4. Texture paint is not a job, it is an artisanship.

Painter, although a pro, was not an artisan nor the right man for the artisanship.

Painter does a Job. Artist does an Artisanship. They differ in TLC.

I can tell he got 'a job' done in 3 days or so, and with his arms aching did not bother to scour it evenly, before painting.

You need to finish the job, he did not finish, nor know how to finish.

You gotta scour it even before you paint.

If you don't scour, you get brush lines on the too smooth textured areas

where had that instead been textured with slight brush lines in, the paint when applied would smooth it and settle in those 'temporary impressions'.

So, Do it gently, with TLC and take your time. Even if you do 1 square foot a day for a year, every time you clean it, rather than a square yard a day for a month, I guarantee you, when it is in fact finished, you will enjoy a full lifetime of artisan grade texture paint, and also, boost the value and equity of your home, and in addition, greatly reduce the likelihood your husband doesn't buy new undershirts for 3 years.