I know what you’re thinking..”another faux brick wall??”. But this time I made sure to photograph every single step so you all can recreate this too! P.S. Stay tuned because within the next few weeks, we’ll be faux bricking this entire hallway and I can’t wait to share the reveal with you all!
Before
Let’s take a look at the before. This wall was plain and boring and I really didn’t want to clutter it with more wall decor. I figured a faux brick accent wall was just what it needed to match the faux brick on the other side of the kitchen.
Faux Brick Wall Materials
The supplies you need for this are minimal and not to mention, INEXPENSIVE!
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Paint Brush (The best paint brush you’ll ever use!)
Acrylic Paint (About 6 colors)
Dark Wax (optional)
Faux Brick: Step 1
Step 1 is taping and is probably the longest part of this whole process. Just remember brick is never perfect so yours doesn’t need to be either!
First, you need to figure out how tall you want your bricks to be. I wanted them to be 2.5″ tall. So I started by measuring 2.5″ up from my trim, and placing a piece of tape along the entire wall horizontally. I then continued this by measuring 2.5″ from the top of that piece of tape and placed another piece of tape horizontally. Keep doing this until your entire wall is covered in tape running horizontally.
It should look something like below. Step 1 is completed! Give yourself a pat on the back!
Faux Brick: Step 2
Now we need to place pieces of tape vertically which will help us start to envision how the brick will look. Brick runs in a zig-zag pattern, so you can eyeball the first row and go from there. My bricks were approximately 5″ wide and I just ripped the tape to fit between the horizontal tape. This part will go fast once you get the hang of it. Once done, it should look like my wall below! Now for the messy part!
Faux Brick: Step 3
Now it’s time to get your joint compound and putty knife out!
You are just going to slap this all over your wall. I’m serious, just slap it up there and spread it around. You want the brick to look 3-D and have texture so put as much up there as you want until you have your desired look.
Your wall will look like so when you are done! Don’t panic, it’s going to look fine! One more step until you are finished for the night!
Faux Brick: Step 4
Your final step for the night is removing all the tape. You HAVE to do this when the joint compound is still wet or the tape won’t ever come off the wall and your faux brick will be a major fail and mess. So once you’ve slapped all your joint compound all over the wall, start removing your tape by starting in one corner of the wall. I would recommend having a large trash bag nearby and possibly wearing gloves (although I didn’t) because this does get messy. I mean it’s wet joint compound you’re messing with. It does wipe up easy off floors and walls while it’s wet though so if you do have any boo-boo’s, just wipe them down.
Once all your tape is off the wall, let your faux brick dry overnight. Maybe use this time to go pick out your acrylic paint colors and your grout color.
Faux Brick: Step 5
The next day, your faux brick wall should be dry and ready for paint. I ALWAYS paint the bricks first so I can get sloppy and make sure to get the edges of the bricks, and then go back and cut in with your selected grout color aka paint.
The paint colors I used were a dark brown, brown, white, two shades of beige, and a brick red/brown. They are $0.77 a bottle and you won’t even use half of one on a wall this size. I had actually reused the ones I used for my other faux brick wall if that tells you anything about how long they last!
For best results, be sure to stipple your brush in the paint. Less is more. You can always go back and add more paint but you can’t remove it. I started by randomly placing one base color on each brick. Like I said, this is completely random as brick should be.
I included a zoomed in look so you can see that my painting wasn’t perfect. I quickly added some paint to each brick and moved on.
The next thing you’ll want to do is use different color(s) on each brick. Use different brushstrokes and firmness when painting. Some bricks you can see I used a lot of paint on while others I just barely brushed my paint brush against the faux brick. Once again, this was random. Sometimes I would use the same paint color twice on the same brick. I also used my white paint to create a whitewashed effect. It turned out quite bold but I knew I was going to dark wax over this entire wall soon and the white would blend right in.
Once your bricks are painted the way you like them, it’s time to cut in with your grout color. I chose white for my grout color because I was going to use dark wax to antique it anyways. That is completely optional and up to you. I like the white grout look but the faux brick wall on the other side of my kitchen wouldn’t have matched since it has dark wax as well.
I just used an old sock to apply the dark wax, making sure to rub it in everywhere. It may intimidate you since the wax is very dark but it adds an aged patina you’ll love!
Faux Brick: After
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I just love the detail that the joint compound shows. It really makes it look like true, aged brick!
This is by far one of my favorite projects hence why I’ve already done it twice in our home, and soon to be this whole hallway! Thanks for stopping by the blog and don’t forget to let me know what you think of this easy and inexpensive project in the comments below!
Cost Breakdown
1.5 containers joint compound $11.35
6 containers acrylic paint $4.62
1 paint brush $5.47
Roll of tape $3.73
Minimal amount of dark wax (Already had on hand) $0
Putty Knife $2.97
Grand Total: $28.14
PIN ME
ooooo! I like this! I’m a fan of brick walls and want to put one somewhere in my home. It would have to be faux. I like this idea over the panels from Home Depot of Lowes, your idea would actually give it a realistic feel when touched. Thanks for the wonderful, and affordable, tutorial! Pinning.
Thanks Audra! It was actually cheaper than the panels anyways, so that’s why I chose to use joint compound.
I am curious about the wax part, could you explain exactly what you used for this step?
,
Hi Donna, I linked the wax in the materials list on this post. Less is more, and I used an old sock to apply it with. You just dip the sock in a tiny bit of wax and rub all over. You can add as much or little as you want until you get the look you’re going for. Hope that helps!
I checked your list of supplies and I don’t see the wax listed to know what you’re talking about. Is it possible the blog didn’t save this item?
Sorry Carol, I realized I linked it further down on the page instead of in the materials list. I will go fix that now!
Please add pictures of actual supplies. (like paints and wax) Did you use masking tape?
Was it bettr than painters tape because it is so temporary?
Hi Ellen, up towards the top of the blog post is a list of the materials you will need for this project as well as links to those products and where to buy them. You can use masking or painters tape, either will work just fine because they are both temporary.
How wide are those grout lines?
Mine are .94″, that’s what the tape said at least. That was the smallest tape our store carried. This is completely customizeable though so if you wanted thinner grout lines, you would most likely just have to order it. I’m impatient however and didn’t want to wait(:
Please let me know what wax you used.
Hi Noelle, I actually linked them up above in my materials list. You can find everything I used there. I applied the wax with an old sock I had.
I understand how you can take the verticle tape off, but how do you take the horizontal tape off being small pieces of random tape.
Kim, all of the tape sticks together pretty well and will pull of as one piece. There may be a few horizontal tape pieces left but they’re easy to just pull off.
Ok I’m going to try this in my kitchen. Thanks for the great directions.
I am going to try this as a backsplash in a house I am redoing. Anxious to see if I can pull it off to look as nice as yours did. I may not do the wax there. Everything is pretty light.
If I like it I may try it in another area?
I’ve seen many do this as backsplash and think it is such a great idea for such a low cost! If you do try it, please share with me your finished product, I’d love to see!
I am just loving this wall, I did a accent wall 2 years ago and it was very expensive. I wish I had done this instead very affordable. I will be doing this in my new home this year.
Thanks, Sandra! Good luck, I’m sure it’ll look beautiful!
Awesomeness !!!!!!!!! I am definitely going to do this in the kitchen and who knows from there?!! Thanks for sharing this and thanks for making it look so easy with your directions…hope to share with you my attempt. Quick question, does it make a difference in drying time (or smell) if you do this during winter versus summer?
Cindy, absolutely no difference! I’ve done it in summer and winter and both turned out the exact same!
What kind of joint compound did you use
I didn’t any mention of brand names for ant of the supplies
Karen, if you scroll up to the materials list, there are direct links to the products I used. Let me know if you have trouble finding it!
you just made my day i soo needed a new idea and this is it!
Thank you Niky!
Awesome job. Looks great. Once the joint compound dries, did it crack pieces of compound when you made the holes for rack? Main question does it crack easy? Also I would think using as backsplash by sink won’t be a good idea, what ur thoughts? Thank- You. Once again yours look AWESOME!!!
Hi Linda, the joint compound does not crack when putting holes in it. I have another wall in my house that I did the same technique on and drill holes and insert screws regularly and no chipping or cracking has happened. If it did thought, it would be easy to fix with more joint compound.
I’ve also seen many use this as a backsplash! Just make sure to seal it with a poly or sealer of some sort and it’ll be the perfect backsplash!
Thanks for stopping by my blog!
I’d like to see a photo of the whole wall to contrast with the first photo fo the plain wall.
Hello, could you please post the links to the joint compound, the paint you used and the paintbrushes you used. The links at the top of the post aren’t working and I would really like to know exactly what you used. Thanks so much!
Love this & want to do it in my home. Never worked with wax before. For us go on “wet” and then dry…how does it not rub off over time? Also, curious as to your thoughts on how to return wall back to original state if we no longer want the brick look down the road. Thanks!!
Hayden this is the perfect project for someone who can’t spend $200 on wallpaper or Brick sheets at Home Depot. I love that I have all of these supplies in my garage…hmm…looks like a project waiting to happen!