Faux Brick Wall

When I was planning out the details for my sons’ room, I was worried that with white walls and black beds (you can see the bed reveals here!) that the room would see too stark. I wanted to do a feature wall to help soften things up. I have loved the look of German schmear brick for a long time and decided this was the perfect place to add it in our home.

I wanted the wall mostly white to “blend” in a bit more instead of having a high contrast between it and the rest of the walls. This wall is so hard to photograph because of the window across from it, and the wall looks a lot better in person. It adds to the urban vibe I was going for, for this teen and tween room.

I bought those inexpensive faux brick panels from Home Depot. I screwed them on to the wall.

The bricks were a bit on the orange side and since I knew I would adding a deep red rug to the space, I decided to paint them a dark red.

After the paint was dry, I added a thin layer drywall mud to the bricks. If you follow me on instagram and saw my insta story about this process, you know it looked a bit pink when I plastered over the painted bricks. For the most part, it dried normal. There were spots where the drywall mud mixed with the paint (it reconstituted it) and it made pink streaks. If I were to do this project again I would have either used a semi-gloss latex paint instead of a flat craft paint or I would have sealed it with a clear polyacrylic before plastering.

After the plaster was dry, I used a damp sponge to remove the plaster from some of the bricks. Drywall mud (or spackle) wipes off easily so it went pretty quickly.

Because the mud wipes off with a damp rag or sponge, you need to seal it somehow. You can use a clear polyacrylic or, the most common way, is to use watered down paint. I tried to avoid the painting the exposed bricks and kept a wet rag handy so I could blot and wipe away the paint if I accidentally got some on the red bricks. I had about 50% water and 50% paint and applied it with a foam brush. The paint also covered any areas that may have seemed a bit pink.

I wish you could all come over and see in in person. There are times when I realize how limited my photography skills really are and trying to shoot my dining room and this wall are both times I pull my hair out.