How to refresh an old texture

In my map Alamo, I wanted an old western wallpaper, so I have looked at the standard Smokin' Guns textures set and picked this one:


(click it to see it full sized)

Run the game, get close and look at the wall... Damn... has a lot of noise and artifacts... Even at mid-range...
Because it's very difficult to find western wallpaper pictures over internet (never found one), I have decided to remake this one.

Because it is an old wallpaper, it was very simple. I don't need sharp detail... Just need the original color and contour...

First I have resized it to 512x512 (with bicubic algorithm of course!).
Then I have applied a gaussian blur of 2 pixels (photoshop : filter>blur>gaussian blur). This removes all JPEG artifacts, but cause a loss of detail... But I don't care: just want the color and basic shape !

Then I have applied an artistic filter, I don't remember which one, sorry , maybe sponge. Just test many of them (photoshop : filter>artistic>?), until it looks good. Because it is a wallpaper, it was logical that an artistic filter may look good. Now I have a nice texture with a painting feeling.

Finally, I have added a canvas effect texture (sorry, I run a french version of photoshop... something like : filter>textures>textures, then choose canvas or something you like).

After only five minute, I have made this texture:


(click it to see it full sized)


Nice! Isn't it?