Edna, Anne painted her wall in her garden to look like bricks. Is that what you're thinking of??

Tracy

Edna,

I think you may be recalling Pauline's faux brick patio, although I haven't seen her post in awhile.

I think I saved her instructions. I'll look around for it.

Marilyn

I bookmarked it at one point then my BIL reformated my computer. Darn PC'c! Never have this problem with Mac's.

For some reason I thought it was PianoLady?

Thanks again!

Pauline's brick painting:

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y24/paulinepdm/BrickFloorPhaseII/

Here is a link that might be useful: Pauline's brick painting

Ooooh, Edna! What're you going to paint?

Almendra! That's it!!!! Thank you, thank you, and did I say thank you!!

Anne- I'm going to attempt to paint my ugly white fireplace. It was once a beautiful brick that some knothead painted. Why would anyone paint over brick??

Edna

Edna, good luck with your painting project. That brings up an interesting point in how interior decorators change just like clothes fashion. I can remember seeing all kinds of pics where they painted those "ugly" red brick fireplaces so they would blend with the room color.....now there are my dark beams in the living room that they did a lot of in the '70's.
All I could think of was ripping them out...........but that was too much work. Then, what should I see but a couple of pieces on TV about redoing a blah living room and putting in faux dark beams to give it some character. Looked exactly like mine...so I am back in fashion. Laziness pays!

I thought about painting my fireplace wall too, but had those darn walnut rough beams as the mantle so didn't do that either.

Let us see your paint job when you finish please and did I say good luck.

Edna,

Have you talked to your local historical society about a way to safely remove paint from brick?

Since they deal with restoration issues they might be able to offer some suggestions. Don't they sand blast paint off the exterior of buildings to expose the old brick? Maybe there is a similar technique for removing paint from interior brick.

I guess I am prejudiced because I LOVE brick, and I know I'd be looking at ways of exposing it. :-)

Good luck with your project Edna!

Marilyn

Yes, I think sand blasting is how they do it. Some sort of blaster : )

Gld, I'm with you : ) Same story, only I was never tempted to paint.

I did see a friend with an incredibly ugly fireplace, some sort of large brown mud bricks, paint hers to its benefit.

We thought of having it sand blasted but what a mess it would make. As my DM says "your living room is so small you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting the wall"

We've used a putty knife to scrap the old white paint off and the brick is a very solid red color. I thought of toning it down using browns, burnt sienna, grays and black as Pauline's illustration shows. I can't get the white paint off in the recessed areas, especially in the grout so I'll paint that to look like a cement texture.

I'd like to try and paint the cement walkway out side to look like brick.

Edna,
My kids did the same thing to their painted FP. There is a product that you paint on, DD called it "Goo", You leave it on xx amount of time, it bubbles and then you peel it off. She said it was the easiest thing they did. Came off in big strips, even the grout. They got it at either SW or a big box store. It was the cleanest thing I've ever seen. No scraping, no little flecks left over.

I still love Pauline's technique!!!!

Good Luck, georgeanne

You folk are lifesavers. I have been searching gardenweb for several hours trying to find that original post to send to my brother. I had lost my hard drive too. Now I can now send my brother the photos and go bake a pie. I am beat.
That was a classic post. They should have a forum for the best all time posts in all categories and call them classics.

Thanks again

I've painted my basement floor to look like brick. I left all the cracks and patches from putting in the drainage system with sump pump...I like the look.

{{gwi:767542}}

Be Safe, Rach

This is so fabulous. We are building a home, and bricking the concrete "terrace" was not considered in the budget. Has anyone tried to obtain a reprint of the article in Living Southern? I looked at their web site, but that article wasn't shown. Does one put down a primer first? Are accrylic paints used? Any additional posts will be read with great appreciation.

Chickencollector, wonderful job, do you have a picture with a broader view of your project that you could post here. I'd love to see it.

ToDancewithWolves, please hurry with your project. I can't wait to see your pictures.

This website has some very talented and creative people sharing ideas. I alway come away inspired.

Rach, that is one beautiful job!

Myoneandonly, I don't think Pauline used any primer. However, I think she did use clear epoxy as a sealer.

I painted a block wall in my garden and used interior house paint - no sealer since it gets no traffic.

Anne

Here is a link that might be useful: brick wall thread

myoneandonly, no, sorry I don't have a broader view picture. My plans for the basement were changed before everything was finished. Most of the floor is once again covered with carpeting as it suddenly needed to be turned into bedrooms!

Be Safe, Rach

I finally did it. Took almost a year since this post *lol*

Should I leave it white or continue on? Be honest, what do you think?

Wow, Edna! It looks amazingly real. Carry on!

MeMo

Edna how did you get the paint off? Do you know what the "goo" is that they spoke of in the past? I love the way it has turned out so far ! What do you mean about leaving the "white"...do you mean at the edges I would go ahead and get it all off I think it looks wonderful. Caroline

Cousin Edna ~ I think you are doing a fantastic job! It looks so much better than the white. I also think once you put some sort of antiquing glaze or whatever over the grout area it will look really good. What a difference paint can make. It's too bad people have to paint bricks instead of leaving them their natural color. Repainting them is much easier than having to sandblast in your home. Keep going you are doing GREAT!

Cousin Flower

Trailrunner, I wasn't able to get the white paint off so I resorted to replicating a brick look with paint.

Cousin Flower please tell me more about glaze, I'm really interested in your idea. How do you glaze? How I think it looks too red as is and I'd like to make it look older and worn like old brick.

Edna

Edna ~ You know some sort of thin brownish wash mottled/sponged on here and there, all over, so that it looks aged. I'm sure some of the ladies here who have done faux brick work could give you some antiquing tips.

You really are doing a great job!

FlowerLady

I've really enjoyed reading this thread, why anyone would want to paint over a beautiful brick fireplace is beyond me, Edna do carry on it's looking wonderful. I've dry brushed other colors to give things that antique look in the past.

Our house is old with small rooms, the living room is quite small and the people we bought it from had a fireplace put in sometime before they put the house up for sale. It's a really good wood burning unit but it was faced with rose colored roman tile which I detest, soooooo, the last time I painted the walls an off white/gray I painted the fireplace as well. We had one of those glass doors with a fan installed so it looks a hell of a lot better now then when it was rose colored. If mine had a brick finish to start with I would have changed the whole room to accent the fireplace. I'm still looking for something for a mantle, I'm leaning towards a piece of driftwood.

Annette

Hey Edna, I'm posting the link to a decorating forum that I belong to. The link is too the "Hot Topics" section of the forum where they have saved a lot of the 'How To' posts. There is way more there than I can repeat here for you. In those posts you'll find the names of a lot of great products that can be used and HOW to apply them to get that great aged look. There are some awesome decorators there (Pauline is a member there too) that have tons of experience in redoing just about anything you can think of and aging things is a specialty of theirs! Good luck!!

MeMo

Here is a link that might be useful: Hot Decorating Topics

You are all wonderful! What would I do without you. My inspiration lays here in this forum, thank you.

I will pop over to the "Hot Topics" forum, Memo. I didn't know one existed. Thank you!

Cousin Flower, thank you for the glaze idea. The fireplace is screaming for glaze *lol*

Annette, I would LOVE to see a picture of your finished works.

(((HUGS)))
Edna

Here's some faux brick painting pictures from our website. We custom tint complimentary glazes and stains and use various tools to apply finishes to bricks. Here's the link if anyone's interested. http://BrickTransformers.com

Here is a link that might be useful: Brick Refinishing

Thanks for bumping up this two year old thread,even tho it smells like Spam! ha. Pauline and chickencollector - that paint job looks great. What an idea. If you're still here on GW, did the paint hold up pretty well over these past couple of years?