How To Whitewash Brick

TANGLEWOOD HOMES
by TANGLEWOOD HOMES
5 Materials
$20
4 Hours
Medium

Brick/Stone walls are great accents in the home, but sometimes they need a refresh or "glow up" to better suit your current decor. That's exactly what I recently did.

I've changed the look and vibe of many rooms in my home by simply painting (see my other Hometalk posts for ideas and inspo)

Stone Arch Before
It was great to begin with...


I really love this stone arch in my entrway. We added it after moving into our builder grade home and it's been the main feature of our entrway. We love it, but it's something we did 15 years ago. Our style and decor has changed so much since then and it was time to give this arch a refresh.

Variation in colours
Prep the area
Preparing to Paint


Taping up the area around the arch was step one to refresh this archway. Use painter's tape to protect the surrounding walls, shelves, ceilings, or anything you don't want splashed by paint. I protected the hardwood floors with dollar store plastic table clothes. (They're cheap and actually large once opened up)

Materials needed


Gather your supplies after prepping the area. You'll need a paint tray, a plastic paint measuring cup, angled paint brush, paint, water, cloth for spills, and a ladder.

Mixing the paint
Time to make a whitewash


Making the whitewash is super easy. I used a 1:1 ratio of paint and water (equal parts of water and paint). I put 2 cups of paint and 2 cups of water into the plastic measuring cup. Then, I dumped it in the paint tray.

*I've seen many recipes for making whitewash, but this one was just the right amount for my projecy.

Basically, the more water you add to the paint, the lighter the white will look.

First coat
First coat of whitewash


The first coat made a huge difference. But since the original stone had so many colour variations, the first coat was looking very gray. So, I decided to go one more coat.

Since the paint mixture is watery, you should have a cloth handy for the drips.

Second and final coat
Second coat


What a difference the second coat made. Also, notice the plastic bags on my black wall?

To apply the paint on the textured stone, I had to use a circular motion to paint, thus creating alot of splashes.

Whitewash Complete

I love how it turned out and the huge impact this whitewash stone arch makes in our entryway. So glad I took the chance. If you're wondering what I would have done had I not liked it.... let's just say, I'm a risk taker. Annnnnnd, I probably would've painted it black😅

Resources for this project:
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Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
  3 questions
  • Kay Kay on Sep 21, 2020

    What did you do with the blue storage unit in the foyer?

  • 17335038 17335038 on Jan 13, 2021

    The project cost only $20 ?

    What kind of paint did you use and how much of the can did you use altogether?

  • Rpg54381177 Rpg54381177 on Sep 30, 2022

    Can you paiñt çieling blaids

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 31 comments
  • I think it's little stark, I would go over it with a light wax. Would show the dimension on the stone. Overall much better!

  • Skampy Skampy on Sep 20, 2023

    This is a little heavier than a wash and is almost painted. A wash has to be very thin and even wiped where you see some of the color thru it unless you want a solid color. But it is a vast improvement over the original.

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