We recently moved into our new house in June. We were so excited to finally have found a house that was “move in ready.” It had everything that we were looking for: a dream kitchen with a beautiful island, an open layout, 4 bedrooms for our growing family, a brick fireplace, and new carpet. Luckily, being a teacher, I have my summers off. So, you guessed it; I started decorating and organizing as soon as I had the chance. I soon realized I wanted to paint the entire house to pull off a farmhouse theme.
Bye Bye Red Brick Fireplace, Hello Whitewash
One project of course leads to another. We painted most of our house in a grey scheme and being type A, the brick fireplace in the living room no longer felt like it belonged. The bright red color popped out like a sore thumb. I thought lightening it up would make it pop more against the grey walls. That was when we decided to whitewash the brick fireplace in our living room to give it a more homey and warm feeling. Home depot had an article on whitewashing brick that gave me some inspiration.
Side note: If you are looking for some great farmhouse gray, Amazing Gray and Repose Gray at Sherman Williams, is wonderful! Both of these colors are frequently used in newly renovated houses.
Get a Farmhouse Whitewash Look:
I searched the internet for white brick paint and ended up getting Giani Whitewashed transformations. I was so nervous and hesitant at first because once it is on the brick there is not really a way to take it off unless you paint over it. We decided we wanted the brick to show through a little and have a similar finish to a German schmear (usually done with mortar not paint) technique.
I am in love with the result, and everyone notices it when they walk in. This was such an easy inexpensive project and it only took about 3 hours from start to finish. To complete our fireplace, we added a 60’ mantle in dark chocolate from wayfair. Due to our original fireplace not having a mantle, we had to tapcon (if you are like me, you probably have no idea what that is! My husband took care of this part.) a 2×4 piece of lumber into the existing brick to mount so we could mount the mantle and slide it into place. Once our mantle was up, it needed some decor. Target Run?! Do not have to tell me twice! Any excuse I can find, you will spot me at target spending way more than I should.
Supplies Needed:
paint brush
scrub bush/ scrub daddy
Rag for wiping off the paint.
Giana whitewashed transformation paint
Water
Painter’s tape or masking tape
I bought just the can of paint because I had the other materials laying around. You can get the Giani brick whitewashed transformation in a kit that includes all the needed materials.
Steps to whitewash your brick:
1. First, prep the area by wiping down / brushing the entire surface area with a warm soapy solution as well as remove any excess mortar.
2. Vacuum away debris from cleaning, remnants, and dust
3. Create your paint mixture by mixing 1 part water, 1 part paint. We ended up using 2 parts paint, 1-part water
4. Start at the top of the brick by painting small strokes in one direction. (only do small area at a time see below)
5. After you paint on the brick, immediately start wiping away the fresh coat of the paint.
6. Repeat step 5 until the entire brick surface is covered and wiped.
Here is the whitewash brick transformation project before, during, and after:
Please ignore the clutter and the baby gate. Can anyone relate?! Our daughter always seems to gravitate to places she should not be.
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