Easy Faux Brick Wall
by
Dysko7710
5 Materials
$2
2 Hours
Medium
Part of my kitchen counter comes out into the kitchen about six feet or so. You know, that part where you can maybe put some stools at the counter and can look out into the rest of the kitchen? So, the stark white 'wall' underneath the counter top was haunting me. It was so.....plain. I wasn't sure what to do with it. I thought maybe stenciling? or a mural of some sort? But everything I thought of just seemed too busy. My kitchen has some color in it already, so I didn't want to over do it. Finally, it struck me to make it into a faux brick wall. This would give it texture, without adding too much busyness. Here is the final result:
Here is what I started with:
The first step was to do the taping. Taping is always my most dreaded step. I would do so much more painting around our house if it weren't for the taping. And this does require a lot of taping. However, once the taping is done, it is soooo easy. I taped around the border first, and then taped the brick shapes. Where the tape lies is basically the 'grout lines' of the brick wall. You can measure the bricks to place your tape (typically around 3 inches wide by 7 or 8 inches long). However, I totally eye-balled this, because I did not want to measure, and felt I have a decent enough eye to do it without measuring.
You can see I used blue painter's tape for the border. I used masking tape for the brick lines, because you want these thinner. I used the thinnest masking tape I could find, a little less than one inch in thickness. Next you need to get your joint compound and a putty knife. I put my joint compound in a paint tray for easy handling.
You basically just spackle, or apply, the joint compound to the wall. Don't make it to thick or it will take longer to dry and be more apt to flake for a longer time. There really isn't any rhyme or reason to it. I try not to cover my masking tape over too thick, because you will need to peel all of the tape off while the compound is still wet. If you notice above, I had my tape lines go over the edges so I could pull them and have them come off while it is still wet.
For the next step, have a trash can or trash bag close by. It is messy to peel the tape while it is wet (but it's fun).
This is right after I peeled the tape off. I was actually going to paint the brick a grayish red and paint the grout lines, but I loved the subtle look of the light grayish white once I peeled the tape off. My kitchen is a lime green and there is color infused through the decor, so I decided to leave it like this. I didn't want it to become too busy. It provided a subtle, pretty texture to the plain wall that had haunted me.
And finally, here it is with the stools in place. I just love the subtle texture it provides to the space!
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Comments
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4 of 62 comments
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Used this same idea for faux brick using joint compound I didn’t bond anything and so far so good!! This is my bedroom and now I want to kind of white wash it but don’t know if I like as is!!!🤔contemplating...
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That looks great! I almost painted mine to look like red brick, it's a hard decision!
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If you do choose to color like brick start with your reddish base color and then find up to two different shade like a tan or dark brown to to give it the brick hue! I also used real concrete mortar to fill in the lines.
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Great thanks!
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Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
I wonder if you added red-ish paint to the Joint Compound ahead
of time for the Brick look if it would work? I don't think it would
look good if i painted afterwards.
Would you know if it would work?
Thanks, Donna
Love love love this! Thanks for sharing! Do you plan to do anything with the white cabinet beside it? I was thinking maybe continue the baseboard & paint the cabinet black or the grey of the "bricks" & change the handles color? Or even use the same idea on it. Just a thought, it kind of stands out oddly bit is a great idea to use otherwise empty space!
Beautiful! Do you think it needs a bonding to hold the joint compound on there and to stop it from cracking?