Whitewashing a Brick Fireplace

This is definitely not the project I should have been working on today! But I was so excited to try out this whitewashing method, and I wanted to get something “fun” out of the way before I dug into less exciting projects. Turns out it was super easy and only took about two hours.

The brick on the fireplace is in really good shape and I really didn’t mind the color. It just didn’t look as “farmhouse-y” as I want it to. I like this whitewash method because it didn’t take away the brick look or texture, and some of the warmth from the original brick color shows through.

Here is what you need:

Any flat paint will do. I used DutchBoy ceiling paint in soft white because that’s what I had on hand. It just needs to be flat if you want that whitewashed look. You could also use any color. Oh the possibilities! You also need a good paintbrush. I love the Purdy brushes – probably should have bought stock in that company before this project. Paint towels are also handy. I also used painters tape around the bottom of the fireplace that a kid ran off with before I got the picture taken.

I mixed about two cups of paint with about two cups of water. I eyeballed both of these. The thinner the mixture, the more of the original brick color you will see. This will be really runny and not like paint at all. More like a watercolor when applied. After you’ve got it mixed up, just start slapping it on the bricks.

It will run and drip and you have to apply it pretty generously to the mortar areas to get all of the nooks and crannies coated. Again – messy. This is where the paint towels come in handy to wipe up any excess paint that may pool on the tops of the bricks. Or wipe up the floor when your baby runs off with the paint brush. This brick absorbed the paint quickly so there wasn’t much to wipe off.

Make sure you cover anything that you don’t want tiny paint splatter on because it ends up everywhere! We are planning on painting the bottom stone so I wasn’t worried about that. We are also going to paint the wall around the fireplace and replace the floor so I wasn’t too worried about the mess I made. See below.

I absolutely love how it turned out! I can’t wait to get the wall painted but first I have some wall paper to remove. Whomp, whomp, whomp.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by! Let me know if you have any questions. Stay tuned for the next project!