White Washed Fireplace Tutorial
Last week I posted a quick little before and after photo on Instagram for a hashtag that someone asked me to play along with. So, right before bed I posted my photo and went to sleep. The next morning I woke up to my largest number of likes and new followers to date! Over 250 people liked that little photo overnight and as of today, it is at 430 likes. I am still in shock. I can't give you a good reason as to why that photo got so many more likes than every other photo I post. I just got lucky I guess. Anyways, several people requested I do a tutorial on how I did the white wash, so here we go!
There really isn't a whole lot of steps to this and I don't have any progress photos. We technically don't even have a fireplace here right now. (It once had a wood stove but was removed when the house was being renovated and never got replaced) Someday we would love to put something in here but for now, the hole is capped and we have a fireplace screen in place to hide it a bit.
Anyways, on to the tutorial. The first thing you want to do is to clean your brick as best as you can. I used a brush to get stuff loose and then went over the entire thing with my vacuum. Next I taped the edges of the wall and the floor. The paint will splatter a bit if you aren't careful, so make sure you don't have anything within a couple feet of where you will be painting. (I learned the hard way and now have a paint splattered camera bag. Must be time to get a new one!)
When determining how much water to paint ratio you will want, I found it helpful to test out my consistency on some loose bricks we had outside. I had some leftover white paint from other projects on hand, so I just used that. It was simple white latex paint, I'm not even sure what sheen it was. I mixed up about 1 part paint to 4 parts water. My goal wasn't to make the brick completely white, just to tone down the dark red. I started at the top and worked my way down. I'd paint one brick at a time, and used a rag to remove the excess. It took a couple days but that is all there is to it. Since the brick takes a day or so to completely soak in the paint, I prefer to wait at least a week to let it settle before you decide to go with another coat of paint. We will be doing a second coat eventually (when get around to it)and when I do, I'll probably add just a bit of brown paint. Right now the brick has a bit of a purple tone to it so I'm hoping the brown will warm it up more.
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| Instagram Photo |
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| Before - dark red and dirty! |
Anyways, on to the tutorial. The first thing you want to do is to clean your brick as best as you can. I used a brush to get stuff loose and then went over the entire thing with my vacuum. Next I taped the edges of the wall and the floor. The paint will splatter a bit if you aren't careful, so make sure you don't have anything within a couple feet of where you will be painting. (I learned the hard way and now have a paint splattered camera bag. Must be time to get a new one!)
When determining how much water to paint ratio you will want, I found it helpful to test out my consistency on some loose bricks we had outside. I had some leftover white paint from other projects on hand, so I just used that. It was simple white latex paint, I'm not even sure what sheen it was. I mixed up about 1 part paint to 4 parts water. My goal wasn't to make the brick completely white, just to tone down the dark red. I started at the top and worked my way down. I'd paint one brick at a time, and used a rag to remove the excess. It took a couple days but that is all there is to it. Since the brick takes a day or so to completely soak in the paint, I prefer to wait at least a week to let it settle before you decide to go with another coat of paint. We will be doing a second coat eventually (when get around to it)and when I do, I'll probably add just a bit of brown paint. Right now the brick has a bit of a purple tone to it so I'm hoping the brown will warm it up more.
This was such an easy, but slightly time consuming project. And the best part was that it was totally free! All of the supplies were items that I already had in the house! I love that for little, to no money, can make such a big transformation! I have to admit, the first bit of paint I put on the brick was a little scary, but now that it's done, I love the change! I hope this was helpful for some of you who may be considering doing this.
As always, I would love to hear what you think about the finished product! Have you been brave enough to conquer some outdated brick? Are you considering it but don't think you can commit?? Tell me about it!
You know the drill, follow along with me here as well!
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I absolutely love the new look! Gives it a fresh and light appearance, plus different from all the other brick fireplaces!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! It really makes it look like a different fireplace. Thanks for stopping by!!
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