DIY Painted Brick Wall
If there was ever a DIY project we’ve done in our house that I’m most proud of, it’s our faux brick wall! I have been creating and redoing and repurposing most of my adult life and it is my masterpiece, my proudest moment and I have never tired of it. When we remodeled our kitchen, I had an inspiration picture I tried to follow with a beautiful brick backsplash! I’m a bit of an old soul and anything that is or even looks like an old building, has my heart!! We did thin brick veneer on our backsplash and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out but the price tag was a bit of an OUCH!! When we opened our kitchen up to the basement that made the wall going down our steps visible in the kitchen. It was cinder blocks painted white… ok no biggie, not ugly, just plain. It paralleled the beloved brick wall, so I wanted it to match, you know, make it all cohesive. Well…we priced the amount of veneer boxes it would take and BIG NEGATVE!!!! So I started pinterest-ing (pinteresting is not, in fact, a word but it so should be!! Don’t we all say that?? Just me?) anywho, I started looking up how to do a faux brick wall. I am a DOER, so I was not intimidated but holy cow there were so many ways to do it!! Some of which included an insane amount of tape with drywall mud over it and peeling the tape, etc etc…no thanks!!!!! Too much!! I’m not even entirely sure what made me come up with my method, I was very pregnant at the time so maybe just a stroke of good pregnancy brain instead of bad? I read multiple options of using a sponge for faux brick painting but the ones I saw used a kitchen sponge, like a washing your dishes, sponge! That looked real sketchy so that was a NO!!! We had a grout sponge laying around from grouting the brick veneer so I cut that bad boy in half and BOOOOM!!!!
Grout sponge cut in half.
Would you believe it was the exact size as our brick veneer? So, if I was trying to replicate that, it was completely spot on!!!! WOOT WOOT!!!!!! Ok so let’s GO!!! As I said I’m a crafty, re-doer, painter, etc. so I had a lot of paint in the garage. I found an old muffin tin and started my palette (very Bob Ross style, if you will!) I used brown from I’m not even sure what, black, burnt orange from my front door, peach from my girlies’ room, white, gray and then created a few extra shades of gray by mixing. I did not prep the wall AT ALL, didn’t wipe it down or clean it in any way…. I realize this was a terrible idea and hindsight is what it is, but it was fine, all was well, BUT… prep your work area people, clean that stuff! I am just a gal that when the creative stroke hits, I just DO IT!!
The sponge, my test “brick” and a piece of the brick veneer.
The before, a blank canvas.
My wall was white already, so I didn’t have to paint it, but just know whatever color your wall is, that will be your “grout” color. I tested out color mixes on the board first and then just went for it! Did I draw out lines, no! Did I tape out lines, no! Did I use a fancy laser pointer to follow, still no!!! EEEEK!! 100% freehand! Again, was that smart, probably not? But did it all work out beautifully, YOU BET!!!! The #1 question I get asked is how I kept my lines straight…..they aren’t and it’s FINE!!! If you are a super perfectionist, this “wing it” method is not for you sister!!! I am NOT a perfectionist when it comes to creative things, I like things to have character!!
My color palette, aka muffin tin. I told you I like to repurpose!! You can also see the brick veneer backsplash,
I mixed colors differently every time I loaded paint on the sponge, and I would flip the sponge over to create a different look and could get about 6 or 7 “bricks” out of each paint load. Remember to offset your lines so if you start with a full brick on the first row, start the next row with a half brick. The other question I get asked a lot was how I painted around the carpeted steps…. I am maybe a wee bit ashamed to say it, but I did it freehand with my fingers!!! Hahahahah!! Why did I do that?? I have so many paint brushes in my garage, but I guess finger painting just sounded like fun that day. With the white “grout” if anything got a little wonky or my lines were a bit off, I just went in with a small paint brush and white paint and did a little tweaking. We have wires, pipes and electrical boxes that I had to work around so that was a bit of a challenge but those are actually my favorite parts in the overall final look.
I will not lie, there was some super tricky parts, like the end of the wall and trying to bend my sponge to fit. Luckily the wall next to it wasn’t finished yet so I could freely get paint all over it; otherwise, I would definitely recommend taping the neighboring wall!! The best thing about painting your faux brick verses “creating” bricks with drywall mud is, if it looks like crap or you mess up, JUST PAINT OVER IT!!!!! Paint over it and start totally over or paint over one wonky spot and try again or paint over it and try something else, easy fix!! If someday I look at it and think, “ok, I’m done with this!” quick swipe of paint and it never happened. Ta Da!!! When all was said and done, we were THRILLED (and still are) with how this turned out and the best part? It was 100% FREE!!! I know that won’t be the case for people who don’t have paint and sponges lying around, but this would be super cheap even if you had to buy all of the supplies. Now if you’ve made it this far and you’re inspired YAY YOU but if you’re here and thinking, “uhhhh yeah ok crazy lady!” then I encourage you to just give it a whirl on a piece of cardboard or something you have lying around, start small and get brave!! YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!! If you have any questions or just want a free boost in your confidence just shoot me an e-mail and I’d be happy to chat with you! Now go be AWESOME!!!!!
The finished product, my masterpiece!!
View looking down into the basement from the kitchen. (Why is there a rag in this photo? Great question! Hahaha!)
Super pregnant me and my two assistants.
View from the basement landing.
