DIY Faux Brick Arches
Hi there! When we first looked at our home, the things I loved most were the parquet floors in the kitchen and entryways, as well as the arches in the front entryway/living room!
So good, right!? Those cutie little corbels match the corbels on our dining room fireplace mantel and I’ve added them in the kitchen over the sink too! Also, this was just one of the many shades of peach we had throughout the place! 😳
Naturally, the first thing I did was paint! I painted the whole room Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter, but felt it was missing something. After trying out the wall color on the arches and not loving that either, I decided the arches needed some texture and knew it had to be brick!
Tools and Materials
- cardboard
- masking tape
- putty knife
- joint compound
- paint (one color for the grout and one for the bricks)
- white paint (if you want a whitewashed look like I did)
- paint brushes
I started my faux brick by cutting out a little piece of cardboard the same size of the bricks on my fireplace (8” L x 2.25” T) to use as my template. Using 1/2” masking tape, I went along and marked each end of my cardboard template with a piece of tape. You can really do any size and layout you want!
I used a 2” putty knife and covered the whole area I was bricking with about 1/8” of joint compound. I made sure I had good coverage over my tape - I didn’t want to see any lines or thin spots around the tape, so there would be dimension when I peeled the tape off. I also tried not to smooth the joint compound out very much.
After I had all my joint compound spread, I waited about 5 - 10 minutes and then removed the tape.
Next, I painted the arches my wall color again, because this is the color I wanted my grout to be.
Then I lightly brushed each brick with my brick color - I chose Valspar Two Cents.
When that was dry, I dry brushed a super light layer of Sherwin Williams Alabaster over each brick to give it a white washed look. For more detailed videos of my painting process, visit my story highlights on my Instagram!
Once I had my arches looking good, I knew we had to change that amber light fixture. One project always leads to another around here. 😅
I think the faux brick really pulled the room together and totally goes with our all brick home! To see more of my home and DIYs, click here!
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
I love the amber light fixture. Would you like to sell it?
I'm curious as to why you didn't do the columns in brick.
I'm curious as to why you didn't do the columns brick too.