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Let me just say that I know this post is likely to be a little controversial. My mom was on “Team-Don’t-Paint-The-Brick” since I first mentioned it. My friend Erin has been behind my plan to paint from the beginning. All that being said, here’s a comparison shot to sway you to my point of view. I’d love to hear your comments at the end after checking out how to whitewash brick the easy and (maybe even) free way!
It all started with a hasty decision to finally just bite the bullet and paint our mantle white–something I’m been wanting to do since we moved in but just hadn’t ever fully committed.
But, as we’re in the middle of the January slump (the stage of the year when it’s too cold to paint anything outside or in the garage), I craved some sort of progress, and since we had the white paint on hand anyway, and the mantle was already bare after removing the Christmas decorations, I figured I might as well jump in with both feet.
So, last Saturday afternoon, this happened:
I used our Zinsser Primer, which we buy from Home Depot and use for anything that has been pre-finished. It allows paint to stick without needing a lot of sanding or de-glossing. You can also grab it from Amazon, HERE.
And before I started, I went over the wood with some sandpaper to rough it up a little. Even though with Zinsser, you don’t really need to sand, I wanted to at least go over it a bit anyway since the wood was pretty glossy with several coats of lacquer.
At that point, I asked Wyatt if he was having second thoughts and he said, “No, but I kind of wish you’d started in the basement…”
So much for confidence, huh?
But it was too late, so I simply got out my paintbrush and got to work.
This is after two coats of primer, so it wasn’t really done, even as fine as that was, I knew I wasn’t finished. And in fact, Wyatt was the one who said it first.
“You’re going to want to do something with the brick now,” he said.
He was right.
As nice as the white mantle looked (we’re moving away, slowly, from the orangey wood tone that filled our whole house when we moved in), the dark brick stood out so much now that the contrast was a little too much.
Originally, we had considered painting the brick white, which is how John and Sherry did it in their old house. (Go check it out, if you’re not a fan of painted brick and it will change your mind!) But, he wasn’t ready to commit to that fully yet. And I agree, it’s a big step, because once you go with paint, you can never go back to the natural look of the brick.
Still, something needed to be done.
After a quick search online, I had the idea to possibly whitewash the brick, and when I showed this photo from East Coast Creative to Wyatt, he was interested. Go check out her post for more inspiration on how to whitewash brick and transform the entire look of a room.
He was a little unsure about the white mantle since it was dark gray in the example above, but after a little convincing, he was ready for me to pick up the paintbrush and get to work. Speaking of paint brush, this is my favorite one.
You can also grab it from your favorite home improvement store. It’s a 1.5-inch angled brush by Wooster Pro and I buy a couple of these to have on hand at all times and I’m pretty protective of them. I clean them carefully after each job and they usually last a year or so. Wyatt prefers the 2-inch size and this 3-pack of the best sizes is perfect for getting started on a few DIY projects.
To start, I mixed the paint in a Chinese take out container (Egg Drop soup anyone?), but it would be nice to use an actual paint cup with a handle. We like these because they fit into our favorite paint pail.
It’s less than $10 and worth it for the convenience. It has a magnet inside that holds the paintbrush upright, which is great since you’ll need both hands free for wiping drips with a rag during this white-washing project. Anything that contains a mess is a win in my book. Plus, it has these clear liners that can be purchased to go with it, which make whitewashing a lot easier because you can easily see if your paint/water mixture is thoroughly mixed. And, you don’t have to clean the pail if you use one of these. #WorthIt
First, fill your container about a third of the way full with paint…
…and then add enough water to fill it.
Then, stir, stir, stir. Seriously, you have to stir it really well. And often. When you think you have it stirred up well enough, keep stirring. We found that stirring every few minutes while applying the whitewash was also really helpful for getting even coverage. Again, this is where those clear liners come in handy.
While I was doing that, Wyatt put down some protection for the carpet. (EDIT: This was before we had hardwood flooring–see that transformation, HERE.)
We weren’t super worried about it because we’re hoping to replace the flooring in here soon…but we don’t want to live with painted carpet until that time comes. Luckily, we save our newspapers for recycling and they do a great job of protecting things from my messy painting.
Before we started, we also wiped down the entire fireplace to make sure there wasn’t any dirt, dust, or soot on it.
Then, just brush the paint and water mixture on a few bricks at a time and wipe off before it dries.
I did find that it really helps to apply your brush to the grout first (instead of a brick) after dipping it into the paint and water mixture because it’s so runny that it drips like crazy and the grout soaks in the liquid a lot better, preventing major drips and runs. It’s still pretty drippy though, so I’d recommend working as fast as possible to smooth those out so you don’t end up with any weird drip marks in your final result. It’s pretty forgiving, though, and you can always go back over an area if you want to touch it up.
We also found that our some of our bricks had some type of weird texture (perhaps they were partly sealed with something) that made it really hard to get good coverage. On those bricks, I just kept brushing on the whitewash mixture over and over again until it finally covered the surface of the brick.
Keep in mind that as you go, a lot of the liquid will soak into the bricks and you’ll likely have to go over it again, but the good thing is that you are looking for random differences in coverage in order to preserve the natural look of the bricks so you can always go back and add more paint to any places that aren’t as white as you’d like. Or you can leave it if you’re okay with a lighter coverage in those areas.
We found the process to take about an hour and a half for our fireplace (I could have gone faster if our paint hadn’t been so thin and my brush so stiff–that made for a lot of splatters to stop and wipe up from the walls, and the…ahem… furniture. Oops.
(We did tape off the carpet around the fireplace, but didn’t tape the fireplace insert until after I had splattered all over it, which meant we had to do some clean-up, which wasn’t that fun.)
After stepping back and checking to make sure everything was as light as we wanted it to be, this was the finished result:
We really like the grayed out look it gave to the formerly orange and red bricks. It really lightened up the room and made things a lot more modern.
At that point, I figured since I had leftover whitewashing liquid, I might as well go ahead and tackle the basement as well, so this post marks our first official attempts at taking over that currently unused space!
I had already decided I was going to paint the brick on the basement fireplace, but since we liked the look of this whitewash so much, I went ahead and just did the same treatment down there.
We were smarter this time and taped off the fireplace insert with newspaper to prevent splatters. I also used a softer brush, which helped control the mess. Also, since the walls down there haven’t been painted yet, it didn’t really matter if I got white splatters on them…
Again, I wiped down the surface of the bricks first, which was especially important since it was a lot dustier (cobwebby) down here. (I hope you aren’t judging my painting outfits in this post—they’re Wyatt’s old clothes…and my shirt from when I was a cheerleader in 2nd grade…)
Of course, we still might decide to eventually paint the brick, but this will be a nice stepping stone to that if we do. I’m pretty sure we’ll be leaving the whitewash in the living room for awhile though, because we both really like the natural, yet muted look it has. And the gray brick seems a lot more modern that I don’t even mind it.
As you can see, I still need to paint the mantle down there, but I’m still feeling pretty crummy so I haven’t had the energy to tackle it yet. Maybe over the weekend. Or not. We’ll see. Either way, how exciting that we now have lighter, more modern brick upstairs?
And for a total cost of ZERO!
Not bad for a full tutorial on how to whitewash brick, eh? I told you it was a good project. Seriously, the before and after is pretty crazy.
Of course, if you didn’t already have the paint stuff on hand, it might cost you a little for the supplies. All in all, an inexpensive update that makes a room feel lighter, brighter, and more modern. You can do it within an afternoon, and I bet you’ll be super pleased with the results!
Go ahead, now tell me if you’re on Team-Paint-the-Brick or not…
And, here’s an updated look at our living room after a bunch of more recent projects. (Click here for more on how we’ve transformed this room, including our DIY honeycomb shelving!)
***P.S. I get asked about our giant chalkboard on the mantle a lot. Ours is a thrifted vintage piece but this one is pretty big and nice, too! You can find other sources for this room, here.
Thanks for reading our tutorial for how to whitewash brick! Be sure to “like” us on Facebook and follow on instagram! Thanks for reading!
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I admit when I saw the first paragraph I was prepared not to like it. Then when I saw the finished project I have to say I really like it. You guys have great vision.
Glad you changed your mind! 🙂
You mentioned moving away from the “orangey” wood tone that filled your house… I’m curious to know if you had any paneling you did something with, as I, too want to get away from that tone in my home as well. Fireplace looks great, by the way. I’ve been wanting to paint the bricks on mine, but havent gotten up the courage yet!
We didn’t have paneling, but I’ve seen some lovely painted paneling on pinterest! Have you looked there for ideas? You can totally do the bricks! Be brave!
I saw your comment about wondering what to do with the paneling. Paint it for sure!! Our first home was straight from the 70’s with every wall covered in paneling. We used primer first, then used paint. We loved it!! Holds up nice too! Good luck!
Kristi
Hi, I love it but what kind of paint and exact brand did u use please? Thank u.
I just used whatever we had leftover. I think it was Behr paint plus primer in their regular untinted white. However, because it’s watered down, you should be able to use whatever water based paint you would like. (Not oil based) Hope that helps!
Looks amazing!
wow!!!!! I LOVE it! Like for real LOVE it! Looks fab!!! 😀
Thanks! We think it turned out really well too!
I love it! It has such a great tone to it. Congrats!
Thank you!
If it’s not too late, I’d like to be on team whitewash. I really like the new look!
Ha! It’s not too late. Glad you like it!
I loved the how to you guys did. It wasn’t that messy after all. And I love my fireplace. I used a mountain smoke color and it turned out great. Would share a pic but I don’t see an option to do so. However thanks for the helpful advice!
You can post and tag me on social media! I’d love to see! I’m @lovinghereblog on both instagram and facebook!
Thanks for the comment!
I absolutely LOVE the look! I am so nervous about brick and painting it, especially after my aunt had an entire wall of exposed brick in her whole house and she painted it white and we were um…less thrilled about it. But I think you guys did a great job with the white washing! Question: do you think you’re going to paint the wood up on your ceilings? We have some wood like yours and I keep debating if we should do it or not. Can’t wait to find out!
Yes, I’m planning to paint that…eventually. Also, my mom feels the same way…she’s very thankful we decided on whitewash instead of paint! Glad you like it, though!
It looks about 1000x better! I am doing mine too. Thanks for the play-by-play!
I agree it helps so much with the overall look! Glad you like it and good luck to you!
Hi,
What pain did you use on the walls? Love the grey!
Thanks
It’s called Classic Silver by Behr. We used a shade lighter (Silver Sateen) on our hallway. Glad you like it!
Looks great! What kind of white paint did you use (eggshell, semi gloss, gloss, etc)? Looking to do this same project in our new home this week.
I just used some white paint we had on hand. I think it was satin, but I think since you are mixing it with water that it won’t really end up making a difference. Good luck!
Did you use just white paint or a grey?
Sorry for the delay in response. We just used some old white paint we had on hand and watered it down with plain water. The varying gray colors in the end result came from the varying colors in our original brick. Hope that helps!
This was one of my questions too because it appears the bricks have shades of grey. We recently purchase a home and found out we will have to replace the carpet. Perfect time to change from the brown beige tones I dislike, whitewash the bricks, and go grey and white. Thanks for the inspiration!
Good luck! Happy to help!
I love the whitewash!
Can you please link the softer paint brush you referred to?
Thank you so much!
Here’s one like it! https://amzn.to/2S3IqfY
Getting ready today to start white washing my brick fireplace. After you painted it on, did you use a rag to wipe excess off?
Yep. A rag catches drips and removes excess. Good luck!
Whitewashed the fireplace and it looks great. One question, the brick absorbed the paint well and left a beautiful contrast of the different shades of brick. Some spots are a little whiter than others. Is there any way To wipe some areas down to remove this? What would I use?
Hmm…you could try just a rag and water…or maybe some sort of paint thinner if the water doesn’t work…but I’m not really sure! Good luck!
I like it. Yours is the first I’ve seen with the 3:1 mixture of paint and I like it better than 2:1. Of course, that is just preference. The look we are all going for is strictly subjective. I am in the process of overhauling my fireplace. The ugly tan colored 70’s brick covered one entire wall, from the front of the house in the living room (where the fireplace is) to the back of the house through the dining room. I decided to have a door installed in the middle of the wall, which was more for utility than for looks. I mean, what were they thinking when they forgot to install a door from the carport into the house? Anyway, the door now serves as a natural divider. I will paint the brick on the dining room side to match the rest of the walls. But on the fireplace side, with a water-based stain, I have stained the brick a dark gray with blue tones. The next step is to whitewash, mainly to improve the color of the grout and to help the bricks to stand out better. I will probably use the same paint that will be on the walls in the rest of the house. I am excited to see the final result. Thank you for showing us your project.
Sounds like a great project! Good luck! Feel free to share a photo when it’s all done!
I am wanting to do something to my orange brick on the exterior of my house but I’m afraid I’ll get the gray look. I like it here-but that’s not what I want with my off-white siding. I’m wondering if there’s a way to get more of a beige tone to the brick…any thoughts? I’ve been scouring websites but I’ve not seen anything.
Interesting! I’m guessing you could use a beige or brown or even yellow toned paint as your base instead of white to tint the final results to a more beige, less gray tone. You might just try experimenting on some old bricks (maybe find them for free on craigslist?) and see what sort of results you get!
This was pretty easy and I appreciated the info you shared. Any suggestions for when you have a pretty large section of the brick you white washed ends up TOO white? Is there something I can do to bring it back a little to match the rest or do you think I have to re-do with some sort of chalky paint. I don’t want to end up with solid color – I hope isn’t ruin the brick! Thanks”
Have you tried just a wet rag and scrubbing it? Or maybe a wire brush to help remove some of the paint? It will likely depend on what kind of paint you used. You also could try some paint thinner…
Hello , was wondering if you put anything on the bricks after white washing them, like a sealant of some kind or did you just leave it whitewashed? And if you left it, does it wipe easily ( normal cleaning) without taking some of the paint off? Loved the brick and look after finishing so much !!! Looks so much better to me. Great job! (Personally, I wouldn’t have went so white with the mantel, probably more of a light grey , but that would just be my preference) 🙂 . Thanks so much for sharing!
We didn’t seal these with anything and haven’t had any trouble. We don’t wash them often though…so if you plan to scrub them regularly, you might want to consider a sealer. I don’t think it’s needed for normal use though.
Great post! We just completed ours based on your instructions and tips. Took no time at all and amazingly inexpensive. We have saw others that used expensive paint, but we had great results with just a country white, flat, cheap paint and brush from a small town Walmart. Shared your post with friends based on showing them my before and after. Thanks!
Yay! I’m so glad it went well for you! We just used leftover paint…so nothing fancy here needed at all! Good for you! Probably our best bang for your buck upgrade!
Thanks so much for the great tutorial! After reading, I finally whitewashed our fireplace and I’m thrilled with the results! Much appreciated.
Pete in CT
I’m so glad!
I love what you did with your fireplace. I have brick on the outside of our house half way up the covered porch and half way up around the garage doors. I’m wondering if I can do this to these areas and get the same results. Would the exposed weather be an issue? Thoughts?
I haven’t tried it, but if you use exterior paint, I think it could work! I want to try it, so let me know if you do! 🙂
LOVE this look!!! Hubby just retired so he needs some projects…lol. Some stupid questions: When wiping the paint off the bricks, is the rag damp or dry? And what type of rags work best? Old tee shirts? Microfiber cloths? Old towels? Thank you!!!!
I used a dry, old tshirt for most of it, and that worked fine. A towel or something else would work too! Using a wet rag will remove more paint. Honestly, it’s not a very fussy project. Just try it! Good luck with the hubby-do-list!
What was on the interior of your fireplace? I’m wondering, what do you do with the red brick inside a wood burning fireplace? Whitewash it as well? Need to leave it red?
we have a gas starter insert that was already gray. I’d ask a fireplace expert!
I Want to do my fireplace too, you used white paint, but it looks gray and that could be cuz of your walls. Looks so nice. Can’t wait to do mine.
Hey! We used white paint, but the bricks do look gray because the paint is thin and the colors of the bricks show through. Good luck!
what kind of paint do you use that you mix with water for bricks?
we used whatever we had. I think it was semi gloss, but honestly, any kind will work!
From another page, or was recommended to use a steel brush to remove excess paint if it gets too white.
What was the paint you used for the brick?
Hi! It was just whatever we had on hand! I think Behr paint plus premier in their basic white. But really, since you are watering it down, it won’t matter!
looks like a frosted cake. still ugly, sorry, need to complete paint it a solid color. still see the ugly redness coming through
You need a hobby. Trolling an obscure post with insulting comments makes you look even more insecure than you already are. Great post. Keep up the good work.
Love it! I have a giant “pizza oven” style antiqued brick fireplace in my 1940s home that I have struggled with. I am considering resurfacing with stone veneer since my SoCal house if Craftsman-esque but this seems like a great try to modernize it and possibly avoid that. Worst case I an veneer later but I love the way it came out and in my opinion much better than solid paint over it (which I have seen and have been avoiding). Thanks so much for posting!
I’m so glad you found this helpful!
hey! thanks for the step by step guide. i’m excited to try it out if we end up getting the home we bid on! wondering what kind of paint you used?? any special kind or just regular semi gloss interior latex paint?
I used whatever leftover white paint I had. I don’t think it will matter at all! Something latex/water based is all I’d worry about!
I was tossing around the idea of whitewashing and this tutorial has convinced me to go ahead (just nervous about screwing it up haha). And thanks to your play by play, you undoubtedly saved me from making the same mistake. I probably wouldn’t have thought to paper off the front either. 🙂
Yay! Share a pic on Instagram when you’re done! I can’t wait to see! http://www.instagram.com/lovinghereblog