Creating a distressed brick wall look

[kaylah_rose]

Hi everyone,

I have been looking around for inspiration for our new home and how we can spruce it up. Our home is from the 80's and has some pretty horrendous features to it, but one thing we did love was the interior brick walls that it has. 

I have seen (mostly in cafes) the distressed brick wall look, like the below and was thinking it would make a great addition to our kitchen area. 

Was curious to see if anyone had tried this out before. Was it easy to do yourself? Did it take a long time? What did it involve?

Any knowledge or advice on this project would be great!

Kay

[RenoQueen]

What colour are your bricks @kaylah_rose? Are they dark or light?

[kaylah_rose]

@RenoQueen

They are a brightish red colour. Hope the below can help! 

[RenoQueen]

I believe most people do it by painting the bricks then sanding it off, and/or using steel wool. You could also try paint stripper. You can do multiple coats of paint first with different but complementary colours. 

You could also soften that room by painting the ceiling and timber white as per the photo below, although some people might be dead against that as it looks like beautiful wood. 

[kaylah_rose]

Thanks @RenoQueen. Thanks for the tips. 

Yeah we don't really want to paint the timber in the living room. It is quite nice and was one of the main reasons we bought the place! However the roof in the kitchen is already white, so it could possibly turn out like the below, which looks amazing!

I have been looking up tutorials on what do for a distressed brick wall look and there are lots of images and inspiration, but not many tutorials unfortunately.

I did find this one http://homeguides.sfgate.com/distress-interior-brick-wall-25533.html which does outline the steps you mentioned. 

It doesn't look too difficult which is a bonus. When we get to doing this I'll let everyone know and hopefully shed some light on the do's and don't's of creating a distressed brick wall look. 

[davehutchy]

Hi @kaylah_rose,

I'm curious to see if you've made any progress with this project. Could you please provide an update?

[RenoQueen]

@kaylah_rose

Just saw this on Instagram and it reminded me of your house. 

From https://www.instagram.com/p/BPIDL9hhzUl/

A lot of work but a brilliant result.

[kaylah_rose]

Very much like our house

We are actually looking at painting inbetween our beams white to brighten the room. 

[kaylah_rose]

@davehutchy - I am sorry I didn't reply. I have been MIA. 

We didn't actually end up painting the brick wall. Decided to leave as is. 

but I did find out that to get the distressed wall look you can use flooring grout. Not sure of the exact process though sorry! Hope you were able to find a solution.