How to Paint Faux Brick

10 Materials
$150
6 Hours
Medium
Painting Faux Brick is an easy technique and very inexpensive to create. I will admit, it is a little time consuming, but worth the time and effort you put into it.
Here is the wall BEFORE ...
... and here is the AFTER.


It looks so real. This is an great idea for a feature wall and adding an industrial and exposed-brick look -- without the real brick!




Paint the wall with tinted Primer. I use primer instead of paint because I want the dry wall mud to have a good adhesion. Measure the width of the brick from one end of the wall to the other.
Measure the width of the brick and add the tape to the wall from ceiling to floor. Don’t worry about the lines being perfectly straight. It will look more authentic if they are a little off.


Apply small strips of tape to create each brick. Notice they are lined up in the middle of the brick on the bottom.
Apply the dry wall mud about 1/4“ thick with a spatula or trowel. Remove the dry wall mud so you can see the tape. (This will be removed later).  Let dry completely. My full blog post has detailed supply list of everything I used to paint this project.
To create different textures while plaster is still wet.  Use the spatula and other tools such as, a textured roller, knife and anything else you find in your tool chest that might make interesting textures.
I used a combination of 6 different colors to create my brick wall. I would suggest going online and look up different brick walls to find the one that you like the best to help with color selections.
Make some bricks darker than others and just play with the colors. It’s a lot of fun and you will see your wall come to life right before your eyes.
Once you’re done painting the entire wall, remove the tape. You might need a pick to pull the tape away from the wall.


The faux brick adds visual interest to a boring wall!


Resources for this project:
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Cheryl Phan
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Frequently asked questions
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3 of 15 questions
  • Ruby Mora Ruby Mora on Nov 28, 2018

    How do you get ths dry wall out from between the brick soo clean?

  • Cindy Nelson Cindy Nelson on Dec 29, 2018

    Can the drywall mud be removed if you get tired of the effect and want to do something else?

  • Miriam Lee Miriam Lee on Apr 24, 2019

    What is best way to paint cabinets also want to put new backsplash

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