painting interior brick

[Jay]

We've just purchased a home with white brick interior walls, including the fireplace, These walls could really use some sprucing up, but we're not sure of the best approach.
Sould we seal the brick (with what?) and what is the best type of paint for this project?
Tahnks for the advice.

[Patricia]

We recently painted our brick fireplace and it looks fabulous in my opinion. It had never been painted so I started w/ Benjamin Moore Fresh Start primer in white. It is able to handle brick or metal surfaces. After the first coat of primer, I realized that I liked the old look of the primer so I did not even need to add a coat of 'real' paint. Should you want to add a coat of real paint, though, the guy at Benjamin Moore told me to use their regular paint over the Fresh Coat. As I said, though, we did not want the color to be that dense, so we did not try that. Further, we did not caulk or do anything else to fill the holes. This added to the old, sand blasted look which we like. To the honest, the divets in our brick were so deep in some spots, I do not know how you could fill them unless you used a lot of caulk and/or drywall mud.... I have attached a picture of our fireplace for you to see if this is what you are aiming for (excuse the rest of the room, as we are not done remodeling it yet). Let me know how it works out!

Patricia Wallwork

[Sleepered]

Hi Patricia,

I recently decided to paint my brick fireplace as well. I initially painted it all white and then decided to sponge some yellow paint strictly on the bricks (not any mortor) and I was really pleased with the outcome. I selected yellow since this was the color I painted the surrounding walls. The sponge effect now provides the feeling of individual bricks that blend perfect to the surrounding walls. why not give it a try on some of your brick using your wall color. If you dont like it just repaint it white.

[Patricia]

Good idea! When I get sick of the white I'll give it a try. Do you have a picture of your fireplace to show us?

Patricia

[JeanG]

Patricia:

I am about to try your brick painting technique. What did you use to apply the paint? A roller, brush or sponge.
Thanks. It looks great. The area I am attempting to paint is much smaller and is actually the paster on partial bricks. Wish me luck.
Thanks again.[8D]

Jean

[maestraw]

Patricia,

I love the "old" look of your fireplace. I am really inspired to get working on mine. Thanks for the hints!



Mo and Dave

[heidi]

The fireplace looks terrific. I can't see the little crevices in the fireplace; did you paint carefully enough to fill all of those crevices or did you leave them their original color? I have just primed my fireplace and I like the look too, I am just wondering if I should try harder to fill in some of the dark spaces on the bricks. Also, I had the same question as one of the other visitors, did you use a brush, roller, sprayer, what? Thanks, it looks terrific.
Heidi

heidi

[bevslate]

quote:Originally posted by Patricia

We recently painted our brick fireplace and it looks fabulous in my opinion. It had never been painted so I started w/ Benjamin Moore Fresh Start primer in white. It is able to handle brick or metal surfaces. After the first coat of primer, I realized that I liked the old look of the primer so I did not even need to add a coat of 'real' paint. Should you want to add a coat of real paint, though, the guy at Benjamin Moore told me to use their regular paint over the Fresh Coat. As I said, though, we did not want the color to be that dense, so we did not try that. Further, we did not caulk or do anything else to fill the holes. This added to the old, sand blasted look which we like. To the honest, the divets in our brick were so deep in some spots, I do not know how you could fill them unless you used a lot of caulk and/or drywall mud.... I have attached a picture of our fireplace for you to see if this is what you are aiming for (excuse the rest of the room, as we are not done remodeling it yet). Let me know how it works out!

Patricia Wallwork

The fireplace looks great. I am thinking about painting the top of our red brick fireplace to match the walls to lighten our den area. I am thinking of leaving the brick below the mantel red. Is there a special brush or technique to painting brick?

[Todd]

Any technique your heart desires. I will always suggest that you should experiment before tackling the the main job. You could experiment on the side of the fireplace and you can always paint over it if you don't like the results.

I would use a thick nap roller to get more coverage and then use an inexpensive brush to do the mortar. Some brick looks really good when you just cover the face of the brick and leave the mortar unpainted.

As for what technique to use, I like the white wash look. A brush, hands, ragging can all get different results. But smearing the paint is the general idea for this look. Just experiment and let us know what you ended up doing.

[decoratingplus]

I have a client that wants their fairly new fireplace brick color changed...hhhmmm.....Playing with sponging on several colors for the change and depth......kinda spooky though. They do not want the grout changed.

Deborah Brown
Distinctive Impressions
http://www.yourfauxfinisher.com