How-To: Whitewashing A Brick Fireplace

Over the past few months, Drew has been hard a work on a foreclosure he is in the process of flipping. I've been helping with designs, paint colors, and offering my, at times unsolicited, opinions. 

​One of the things Drew actually asked me to help him with was to make a 1970s fireplace look like it wasn't from the 1970s.

Okay, I can handle that. I decided to whitewash it... even though I've never done it before.

It can't be that hard, right?

Right.

To start off, we removed the fireplace screen, cleaned the brick really well and let it dry.

While it was drying, I masked off the walls and wood trim at the top of the fireplace with painter's tape and prepped the materials.

Now for the fun part of creating the whitewash.

I mixed white latex paint and water together in a small bucket. The consistency which worked for me was about 60% paint and 40% water.... give or take. I totally didn't measure.

As far as application, I used a cheap 4" wide brush for the initial application. I also used a 2" brush to get into the crevices and to neatly paint along the sides/floor/wall near the painter's tape.

Warning: This gets super messy.

Watered down paint means it will splash easily. My advice to you it to wear old clothes that will be ruined. I also wore latex gloves in hopes of saving my manicure.

Start at the top and work your way down. I read plenty of blogs about working brick-by-brick.

Yeah, not happening.

I'm a messy painter and this fireplace turned out great so don't worry about going brick-by-brick. If you work in sections, you'll get the job done just fine.

Once you paint the vicinity of 8 or so bricks, get your rag and start dabbing or rubbing. Basically like you're trying to "wash off" the paint. Don't actually wash it off, just enough for it to look faded.

As you continue working in sections, you will notice the paint in previous sections start to absorb. This will make it look lighter... and more dirty than white.

Do. Not. Panic.
This is normal!

Continue working through your first coat knowing you will need a second coat.

After the first coat, I stepped back and let it dry for about 30 minutes.

Then, I started the second coat, working again in sections from top to bottom.

During the second coat, I concentrated a little more in dabbing the rag in the cracks and crevices so the grey mortar wasn't such a contrast but I didn't want to overdo it.

Drew and I were both happy with how it looked after two coats so we let it dry for 24 hours.

When we went back, we decided it still looked good!

So, we added the finishing touch! Drew attached the custom wooden mantelpiece he created to match the trim at the top of the fireplace and the newly refinished hardwood floors.

We think this fireplace is a great accent to the other white details in the home! The living room opens into the kitchen so the whitewash will complement the white custom kitchen island. The stain of the wooden mantlepiece will also match the stain of the custom wooden coffee bar.

We hope the future buyers can appreciate the touches of DIY and custom design!

Follow along on Instagram for more photos, videos, and stories from this flip house! 

---

(Views, opinions, products and designs are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.)