Making New Bricks Look Old With Paint and Stain

Amy
by Amy
5 Materials
$100
4 Hours
Medium

This faux antique brick finish is an easy DIY project and will allow you to build a patio or walkway with that reclaimed brick style but with the structural integrity of new brick.


With these faux brick stain finishes you can use to transform cheap 25 cent bricks into a beautiful antique brick masterpiece. Antique brick patios are a great addition to any cottage garden.


The price of this project and the time it takes will vary depending on the size of the project you're working on. For my 11.5 foot diameter circular patio I spent about $600 on the materials I needed. About $150 on brick and the rest was on the base materials, polymer sand, edging and other tools I needed. But, this tutorial is only for aging the brick so the cost could be much less.

In this video I’ll show you five different ways you can achieve a realistic faux brick look quickly, without spending a ton of money or sacrificing the structural integrity of your patio, walkway or wall!

Use your paintbrush and lightly dip into the stain or paint. If you're using paint, I recommend starting with a mix of 4 parts water to one part acrylic paint to give you a "wash". I did this with white in the video and you can see the comparison of the watered-down paint vs. a white pickling stain.


First things first, find an inspiration photo online to work from. This will really help you when you're trying to achieve a particular look for your project. You can study your inspiration photo and try to mimic the look on your new bricks.


Use your paintbrush and lightly dip into the stain or paint. Using different types of paintbrushes, like sponge brushes or chip brushes will give you different effects. Experiment with different brush strokes and techniques to get the look you’re going for.


You can pat the stain or paint dry in between coats. I like to reapply the color several times to get the intensity I’m going for. I also like to layer one color on top of the other.


This is much easier to understand when you watch the video!

I would recommend installing your project in place BEFORE aging the brick. This will give you more control over the antiquing process for a more realistic look.

This is what my patio looked like after using these faux aging techniques on the brick. This is before I used polymer sand to seal between the bricks.

Suggested materials:
  • Paint brushes   (hobby/hardware store)
  • Acrylic paint   (hobby/hardware store)
  • Wood stain   (hardware store)
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Amy
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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