August 01, 2007

Faux Brick Painting

How to Paint Faux Brick on a Wall?

Would you love to have an entire wall of cool old rugged bricks, just like a New York loft or Old World Kitchen?

With this faux brick painting techniques you can add charm and vintage appeal to your surroundings without breaking the bank.

A wall of faux bricks can be done for under $200 and when you’re tired of it, just paint over it.

The best part - everyone will be amazed at the cool faux brick walls you have painted, YOURSELF!

So let’s get into the how-to of this interesting but challenging faux brick plan of yours. You might need to do some math calculations. Yuck. I know you can do it. It will take some effort and a little of the fudge factor will be thrown in for good (or bad) measure.

When measuring an entire wall for faux brick you have a few things to consider before you get started, so don’t just jump in with the drawing until you read the rest of the chapter. I’ll be watching for the tell-tale signs that you jumped right in and I can tell, I’ve done it myself.

First things first, are you trying to match a brick wall that is near the faux brick project wall or maybe in the same room? If so, make sure to cut your faux brick template to size. Measure a “real” brick and use that for your faux brick template drawing. You will not have realistic faux bricks if you don’t come as close as you can to the real deal.

Faux Brick How-To Video and Book - Get your copy now!

Second, do you want your faux brick to look brand new or old and rustic? You do need to take this into account when planning your wall of faux bricks. It’s really not a matter of measuring your brick, but the grout line spacing may be a little different.

Are you half a bubble off?

Before starting to measure and draw in your faux brick painted wall, be sure you have something to keep your faux bricks level. Really, don’t try to draw in faux bricks without finding a level and plumb line for your walls. It’s like trying to tile your floor without finding square first. No matter how you try, if your first lines aren’t square (level and plumb) you’re not going to end up with a professional realistic faux brick wall.

The first line of faux bricks starts at the ceiling, or if your faux brick wall isn’t going as high as your ceiling then you will be starting at the top of your faux brick painting area. The awful truth about houses is that the ceiling and floor is probably not level. Lay your level down on the floor, and see where the bubble lands. If that bubble is smack dab in between those two lines, you got level on your floor.

Wahoo, we’re in like flint.

Wait a minute - don’t get your britches in a bundle yet. Your floor level really hasn’t got a thing to do with our faux bricks. Unlike real brick that has to be put in from the floor up (they tell me it’s a gravity thing) our faux brick has to be “lain in” from the top down.

Faux Brick How-To Video and Book - Get your copy now!

Top Down? Well then what’s level got to do with it? Hold your level on the ceiling. I’d just bet you the little bubble is about half a bubble off or not close to center anyway.

This really isn’t a bother until you want a level line right up next to that ceiling line. Something is going to start to look a little … well Off. You want your whole faux brick to be at the ceiling, if there’s going to be a line of faux bricks cut in half they should be at the floor.

If you have a laser level, use that up near the ceiling to see how - Off - the ceiling is.

If it’s only a tiny bit on a pretty long wall, say over 10ft, then your wall is going to be okay without using much of the fudge factor. Use your big 3ft level or snap a line with a chalk snap-line and this will give you a good visual. No problems?

Next blog post will cover the next area of concern when painting faux brick on a wall.

Faux Brick How-To Video and Book - Get your copy now!

Excerpt from “The Beginners Guide to Professional Finishes: Faux Brick” a THAT Painter Lady Publication teaching Faux Finishes Bricks to Beginner Artists.