DIY: Faux Brick Wall

I love finishing - the part of a project where you start to see it all come together is invigorating! It can also be scary. This project was exciting because it is adding color and texture, scary because it is a process we (the hubby and I) have never done before. But hey, as the saying goes, first time for everything right?!

The loft built-ins have been a real labor of love --maybe more labor (see full reveal here). But once the counters were in, it was time to determine what to do on the wall above them. I originally was planning shiplap to tie in with downstairs but once the counters were installed I was worried that the wall would have too much white: white cabinets, white counters, white bookcases. So I decided I wanted something with color and with more texture (it is a big wall). I debated on a tile pattern but faux brick just kept popping back into my design ideas.

Before

Here is a look at the wall before we began faux bricking. We are looking to brick the entire space between the proposed built in bookcases. It is just over 8ft x 6ft (Yes-so big!)

Which Bricking Option?!

Once I finalized on faux brick, I had to zone in on a product and process. My goals were:

1) I want to add a little color and texture

2) It needed to fill a large wall

3) $ - come y'all I am cheap =)

Option 1 - Hand created or Paint on

The first option was inspired by the Home On Arbor Pointe blog. Here she essentially "creates" brick using built up joint compound and then paints her bricks a desired color.

Option 2 - Brick veneers

Another option I found was to use super thin brick tile veneers. In this example Rustic Crafts tiles her wall with a thin brick and then creates a more lived in look by covering with joint compound.

Option 3 - Brick paneling

Lastly, while trolling Pinterest I found Restoring House who created a large faux brick wall by using standard 4 x 8 brick panels and then using joint compound to get an aged look.

After doing all the research. I settled on the brick paneling option #3. For our space this was the best of all worlds - I would get the texture and brick-ish feel I wanted since the paneling has dimension. It is not too artistic and since all I needed to buy were the brick panels it was great on the budget. Winner!

Here It Goes!

Below is a quick photo snapshot of the process

Total Cost

This project really cost < $100! Actually it cost a total of $72 -- Woo Woo! We only had to buy the brick hardboards and the spray poly to complete this project, we owned all other tools & materials

Step by Step

1) The first thing we needed to do was get all of our supplies together. Your projects will go smoother if you assemble necessary tools and materials up front.

Materials List

1. Brick Paneling - there are a lot of options here. We opted for Home Depot's Kingston Brick Hardboard Wood Panel = $28/panel (we needed 2 8 x 4 panels).

2. Spay Poly - we opted for Minwax Clear Satin

3. Brads

4. Liquid Nails

5. Caulk

6. Joint compound

7. Sand paper

8. Bucket of water & sponge

Tool List

We use Ryobi for all our power tools. They have been incredibly trustworthy and get the job done for us!

1. Brad Gun

2. Caulk Gun -- this is my most favorite tool. If you do anything with caulk this a great investment.

3. Jigsaw

4. Rubber hawk

5. Mud pan

6. Sponge

7. Hand Vac

2) Prepare your brick panels. The space is shorter then 8' so I asked the nice guys at Home Depot to cut down the 2 hardboards to our desired 7'6".

From there I used a jigsaw to cut out every other "brick" so that when they are placed on the wall they fit together without a seam down the middle. This step is optional but makes for a much more realistic look. The bricks in the image with an X through are the ones that I jigsawed out.

3) Next I attached the brick panels to the wall. I do not plan to take the brick down so I used liquid nails to adhere to the wall. If you think you may want to change your mind later, I recommend you just use brads as removing liquid nails will destroy your drywall. For added stability I added brads to the edges where I knew they would be covered by trim.

4) The wall was slightly bigger then 2 boards so I had to get creative with the extra I had trimmed off the top. I simply followed the same process of jigsawing out brick sections and puzzled it together. You can see those on the far left in the picture below.

5) Once the wall was completely covered with "bricks" it was time to caulk the seems. The caulk acts like normal grout between the pieces we pieced together so there are not some places that are bare.

6) Next is the fun part, we wanted the bricks to appear like they were always there. Lived in. So we added joint compound to the wall to create a worn in white wash look. This is sometimes called a German Smear.

This process was super fast (the whole wall only took me about 45 mins) but a bit of a process and to look old should be random. I am a black/white, color between the lines type of person so this is hard for me. =) To fake random, I worked in small sections, bouncing around the wall instead of working straight up and down.

To age the wall, take some joint compound onto your rubber hawk (I prefer the rubber hawk because it will not scrap the brick but a metal or plastic one could work too). Then work in swiping motions (think the motion your windshield wiper makes) to apply the compound, this is imperfect so throw some on, wipe some off & move on.

Every couple of sections I stepped back to eyeball the wall and would add more more I felt like it. You can see in the picture, the wall in the middle of the ageing process.

7) Once all the joint compound was up, I stepped back and decided my wall was too white. I wanted a little more brick peeking through to show the red. Thankfully joint compound is water soluble so I could take some off with a sponge and water. I stood back and picked bricks here I wanted more color come through, I added painters tape to them so I could keep track of them. From here it is as easy as it sounds, take your sponge, dip it in bucket of water, ring out and then scrub your brick.

TIP: I found it was easier to work with a damp vs. wet sponge so I did not get water drips down my wall when I scrubbed.

8) After I was happy with my overall look it was time to let the joint compound dry. The directions said this likely would take 2 hours but since it was Sunday afternoon I knew I would not come back to it until next weekend (because, day job!) so my wall dried for 5 or 6 days.

9) Once the wall was completely dry I spent some time hand sanding the wall to take off any ridges or rough parts. This is also not necessary but I liked the way it looked in the smoother areas so I took this step.

10) Because joint compound makes a lot of dust, I needed to remove the dust from the low points on the wall before I added a protective coat. For this I used a hand vac to vacuum the wall. Again I am extra you could have just used paper towel or a hand broom but instead I vacuumed my wall. Yes, read that again =)

11) My brick wall is going to have a HUGE fish tank in front of it so it was important that it is water proof. I saw some posts that "sealed" their wall by painting it with a diluted part white paint/part water solution but since I really need water proof we opted for polyuerathane. Spray poly is such a great invention and was a perfect way to poly our wall. I opened up the window and followed the directions on the can. I let set for the recommended 72 hours and then did a second coat just to be safe.

12) OPTIONAL! Once these steps were all done I added trim to finish off the edges where my brick met the built in bookcases and counter tops. Because our initial wall is in no way flat adding trim helped clean up the wall.

TA DA!! Here is the finished before and after. Isn't she a bute!!

What do you think?

With Joy,

Ashley