Welcome back!
As promised in my post about how to make faux brick walls with joint compound, I’m here to tell you all about the 3 different methods for painting faux brick walls that I’ve personally used in our home! I love all of these 3 methods and the different looks that they each have.
The first time we added a brick wall
to our builder-grade (therefore charm and character-free) home, we used brick panels that we purchased at Lowe’s. Fortunately, we had rented a Jeep for a trip we were taking and were able to load all seven 4’x8′ panels into the back of it.
The rental Jeep was great for hauling brick panels!
Joint compound is certainly easier to transport! 🙂 OH…and just as an aside…we have since bought a Jeep! 🙂
Faux brick panels are pre-painted
to look like dark red brick with black grout lines. I knew from the beginning I would be painting them white because my goal is to lighten and brighten my home.
I will tell you that
when it comes to brick walls, my opinion is that the older and more aged looking, the better. I like to think of an old Brooklyn Brownstone with all of its gorgeous old brick walls, and I take my inspiration from that.
My brick wall inspiration photo!
Brick panels are perfect
and symmetrical and look like a brand new brick wall so I had to do something to give them a bit of character. After attaching them to the walls I used joint compound and a spackle knife to give them some texture and add some bumps and lumps here and there so that they weren’t quite so perfect. I also had to try to cover the seams where the panels came together. One more reason for loving the joint compound method….no seams to cover! (just sayin)
Adding texture and covering a seam in the brick panels
But I digress,
we’re here to talk about painting faux brick walls made with joint compound. The first joint compound faux brick I did was on my kitchen backsplash. I have two sections of backsplash, each about 7 feet long so it was a great place to learn this technique. The faux brick panel wall behind my open shelving is painted white so I painted my backsplash white as well because my plan was to have all white walls in my kitchen.
When we bought this house
the previous owners had it all painted in a nice creamy tan called Sandcastle. It’s very pretty and was one of the things I loved about the house, but I love white so I will be slowly repainting all the walls (or most of them) to white.
Before adding faux brick to the backsplash
As I mentioned in my faux brick tutorial,
joint compound is messy but it washes away easily with water. With two walls of kitchen backsplash covered in joint compound, the last thing I want is for it to wash away with water, so sealing with primer and painting faux brick is very important. I did this as soon as they were fully dry and we were very careful in the meantime to make sure nothing splashed on them.
Once my faux brick wall/backsplash
was fully dry it was to prime it. Joint compound drys very chalky and feels quite rough so I put two coats of primer on it to start the sealing process and also prevent it from sucking up all my paint. I used Zinsser Bullseye 123 Primer because I have used this primer many times and knew it would thoroughly seal my joint compound bricks. I applied 2 coats of primer and made sure it was thoroughly dry between coats.
I painted my faux brick
backsplashes with Behr paint from Home Depot mixed in my favorite white for walls which is Westhighland White by Sherwin Williams. I was quite happy to find that I could get Sherwin William colors at Home Depot prices. I used a semi-gloss for this project because it’s a backsplash and I want it to be very washable as well as reflect light as it can be a bit dark under the cabinets.
Current View of Kitchen (hard to see in the photo but we also did the brick above the cabinets! That was FUN!) ;/
The second time I did a faux brick wall
made with joint compound was also in my kitchen, on the wall surrounding the opening that goes toward the laundry room and garage. As I looked at this blank wall, (it’s the only one in the kitchen that doesn’t have brick on it), I decided to try something a bit different to make this more of an accent wall.
Before adding faux brick to accent wall
Once the bricks were on
and completely dry, I primed the entire wall with my Zinsser Bullseye 123 Primer. I don’t worry about grout lines at this point so I just prime everything. That way I know I’m getting primer on all the edges of each joint compound brick.
After two coats of primer
it was time for the fun part! I chose 4 different colors that I thought most closely look like the colors you would find in red bricks. In hindsight, I could have easily only used two colors and had a very similar outcome, but for the purpose of this article, I will tell you exactly how I did it. I knew I would need much paint for this part of the process so I just got the little sample pots from Lowe’s.
I put a puddle of each color
on a paper plate and had 4 separate small 1-inch chip brushes, 1 for each color (I buy them in bulk because I love using disposable brushes for projects like this). Let me just say that by the time I was done, I was using the same brush for all the colors because I just didn’t care anymore. LOL! If you follow along on Instagram @somethingpaintedwhite you may remember this project from my stories. Oh what a great time we had. We laughed and laughed! (sigh, good times)
I did a small section
using just one of the colors and brushing it randomly on each brick with a very light coat and leaving some white showing through. Then I went back over the same section with the second color, brushing it on randomly in no particular pattern. I repeated this with the two remaining colors. Then I moved on to the next section and repeated this process. One of the colors was a bit more purple than I liked so I took the brown color and put a bit more over top of any of the purple areas. Long story short, I just made a mess on each brick and it looked awesome!
Painting the bricks
I did the entire wall
in this fashion until I was happy with the way the colors looked. Painting faux brick is so therapeutic, especially when it looks so real! I was quite happy with just how authentic it looked when I stepped back and looked at it as a whole.
I’ll be honest,
I considered just painting the grout lines white and leaving it as it….but I decided to follow through with my plan and whitewash the entire wall. I used my favorite wall color, Westhighland White by Sherwin Williams, (mixed with a smile by Home Depot). I did a 50/50 mix with water and using a rag, I wiped it on the wall. After the first round of wiping I let it dry and did it again until I was happy with how it looked. Once I was finished with the wiping I used the same color of white and a small artist brush to paint in all the grout lines.
I love how this brick wall
just pops out from the rest of the kitchen and am so glad I chose to whitewash it!!!
The third method I used
for painting faux brick just might be my favorite! This wall is at our little summer home that we refer to as ‘The Ranch’. It’s not a ranch, it’s a tiny little park model RV that was built in 1991 and some genius thought pink floral wallpaper all over the entire unit would be a great idea. I guess it was...it matches the pink countertops! (where is my forehead slap emoji when I need it)!!!
Our little ranch needed
at least one wall of brick. This wall was painted the same way as the accent wall in our kitchen, except this time I only used two colors (Valspar Pretzel Twist and Valspar Cowboy Boots). Much faster and it still looks like a brick wall!
For this wall I used
the german schmear technique by schmearing joint compound ALL OVER my painted bricks. As usual, when doing a technique I haven’t done before, I panic and sweat, and have a good old-fashioned freak-out, but I keep going! I scraped it on with my spackle knife so that it was a thin layer that allowed a bit of the color to peek through here and there. I did have to take my finger and wipe the joint compound out of the grout lines, it was super easy and secretly kind of fun! (in hindsight, I realize when doing german schmear, one color of paint under it would probably be sufficient)
I love the german schmear look! Curtains are temporary, don’t judge! 🙂
It’s just joint compound on the floor and wipes right up with a wet rag!
By the time I was finished
schmearing this wall I was in love and had found my favorite method of painting faux brick. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure that one day I will re-do the wall in my kitchen to be just like this one. Again, I had to allow the joint compound to dry thoroughly (24-48 hours, weather depending) and then rather than paint it…I just sealed it with Rustoleum Chalked Clear Matte Sealer and that was that!
As soon as the faux brick wall
at ‘the ranch’ is complete with blinds (and extended into the kitchen) I will update this post with a new photo! If you follow me on Instagram @somethingpaintedwhite you’ll want to stay tuned to stories because we’re heading to the ranch this week and I will be finishing this faux brick wall. YAY!!!
Painting faux brick walls can be super fun and easy!
I hope you found some inspiration in this article and will try at least one of these techniques for painting faux brick walls. And when you do be sure to let me know so I can give you a high-five!
Happy DIY’ing,
~Cindy~
….wife, mom, Mimi (aka grandma) and home décor enthusiast.
Wow! It looks so real ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you! That’s the very best compliment of all! 🙂
I’m in love with the kitchen u shld be so proud of yourself I wld be ♥︎ ty for sharing I had an idea for my focal point in I my bedroom thanks
Thank you so much for your kind words. I certainly hope you try it, it’s amazing what an impact it makes! Have a great day!
i love brick also- we are “adding” it to our home (it’s ALL 70s paneling! blech)- i actually was inspired by your “market” wall- that was the first post i’d seen on hometalk that sounded the bell and lit the bulb in my head! how long ago did you do the german schmear technique and how well has the matte sealer held up? i’m working on our living room wall- we are putting up the brick panels and i’m german schmearing it with joint compound, not mortar, but i don’t want to flat out paint it either if i don’t… Read more »
So the market wall I did about 2 years ago…it’s still holding up perfectly and I don’t foresee any issues with it ever. The backsplashes which were done out of just joint compound and then primed and painted are in perfect condition as well. The brick wall that I used the Rustoleum matte sealer on was done last fall and again…no issues whatsoever. For your brick panels, I would simply seal with a good sealer after your done with the joint compound and you won’t have to worry. I highly recommend the Rustoleum Chalked Matte Sealer…as well as Modern Masters… Read more »
Something else you can do to give the faux brick a gritty texture is to mix some leftover grout in the mud to the consistency you desire. The color of the grout isn’t that important since you are going to paint over it anyway.