The plasterers/drywallers I know do their texturing without sand.
You can do a lots with brushes, etc!

Available from many companies, it's called "anti-slip" paint and is designed for floors and steps as a safety measure. You have to decide if you want your walls to look that way.

Anti-slip skid coating National Sealing Co.

This post was edited by worthy on Wed, Aug 14, 13 at 14:20

Twelve years ago we painted our living room, entry, and dining room with Ralph Lauren's River Rock paint. It has a very fine granules which give the walls a fine sandpaper texture that is really wonderful. I have found the surface easy to clean with a magic eraser (sponge) and when necessary I've done the occasional small touch-up with a jar of the leftover paints that I store under my bathroom sink.

I did a quick check online to see if these paints are still available and discovered they are, but also found a lot of threads with folks complaining how difficult it was to use this paint. I do recall it looked blotchy with the first coat, but looked fine after the second coat, so we really didn't have any problems. (We used a very deep taupe for the living room and a soft dove for the entry and dining room and both worked equally well for us.)

I wouldn't recommend Ralph Lauren Suede, which is similar in texture. We tried that for our den and later discovered every time we brushed against the walls it left a white mark and any attempt at touch-ups simply wouldn't blend in properly. For some reason the River Rock doesn't have this problem. (We ended up repainting that room six months later with an ICI Dulux paint that was fabulous - nice, thick and rich in pigment - could almost get away with just one coat even in their deepest colors, including red and navy!)

There are some packets that you can add to the paint to give it that texture. I got mine at the either Home Depot or Menards.

Ralph Lauren River Rock Hell