I love how clean and crisp the color white looks! I have a lot of white decor and furniture in my home decor collection. It brightens up a room instantly! That’s exactly what I was looking to do with my basement. It was dark, outdated and I needed an inexpensive way to spruce it up.

I had seen brick painted while binge watching Fixer Upper so I knew updating my brick fireplace would look awesome! I had seen them Chip and Joanna lime wash some brick, so first I researched what it would take to go that route. In fact I tried it on a piece of brick and it wasn’t quite white enough for me.

Next, I tried white washing with some white paint I had from another project. It was the perfect color of white I was looking for.

How to White Wash

White washing is so easy! All you do is mix 50% white paint with 50% water. Paint it on! That’s it! Another thing I love about white washing is you don’t have to be precise like you would with regular paint. I really kind of “slopped” is on the brick. In my opinion you don’t need a nice paint brush for white washing. I used a package of cheap dollar store paint brushes. This was a project that I let the kids help with because you really can’t mess it up. I would caution though that it can be runny. White wash is very much like painting on water. Be sure to cover your carpet if you have brick down to your carpet like I did.

I’m horrible but I actually didn’t paint behind the fireplace for three years! I couldn’t reach it. We listed our house for sale and I FINALLY painted it so potential buyers wouldn’t see my unfinished project. To get behind the fireplace my husband taped a paint brush to a broom handle! haha! It was difficult to reach behind, on the sides, and under the fireplace so that’s how we solved that problem!

It looks so much better! The difference is incredible! I love how the fireplace looks like it has contrasting gray and white colors. I get complimented on the brick all the time. I don’t use this fireplace at all, but it makes for cute decoration. I would recommend this easy project to anyone!

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Tags: basement ideas, brick update, farmhouse, farmhouse style, fireplace ideas, fireplace update, painted brick, white wash brick