Faux Brick Wall

I have been in LOVE with brick walls lately. I actually dream about doing one on the largest wall of my home, sigh, but that would be a BIG job, and I'm not sure it will happen. I did, however, do a faux brick wall for staging my pieces, and I could not be happier with it!

The good news is, it was so easy, pretty inexpensive, AND you could follow the same technique to do this in your home!

So here is what I did. I bought two faux brick panels from Lowe's. Here is the link. They cost me just over $27 each. I also bought spackle, because I was going for the German Smear look. I only bought one, but had to go back later for another one. So a good rule of thumb is one for every panel. Here is the one I bought. You can buy whatever kind you like. This one is inexpensive and comes pre mixed, and even has a putty knife. So all in all, I spent about $75 on the wall.  (I also bought another panel, that looks like a  wood floor. It's awesome, here is that link if you are looking for something similar.)

The first thing I did was mount the panels to the wall. I did not worry about the seam, because I am only using this for photo staging, but, if I were to do this in my home, I would have cut the half bricks out and fit the two pieces together in a staggered pattern, being careful to leave the grout lines spaced like the rest of the bricks. This would help you get a seamless look. Since the is a garage wall, and the cement footing sticks out, I just screwed some 2x4s in to the studs of the wall, and then used my finish nailer to attach the panels to the 2x4s. at the bottom, I used some liquid nails to glue the panels to the cement.

Now it was time to begin spackling (I don't know if that's an actual word, but I don't know what else to call it...). I wanted to get the technique down before I tried to teach anyone,  and I hate climbing on a ladder, so I decided to do the top half first. It was after the top half that I ran out of spackle, so I took a break to get some, and then I got back to work. I did not know how to explain this, so I created a small video clip to provide a visual. I am very self conscious sharing this video, so please be kind! I am not a person who is comfortable on camera. You will see that it really is simple though, and hopefully this video makes you feel like you can do this on you down, because anyone can!

So, I did the whole thing. And here it is finished, with my floor panel in front of it. The seam is definitely visible, but it's fin for photos. This is why I would do it differently inside my home. 


Note: when it's all dried you will need to seal it somehow. If you don't it may become discolored, and it may begin to fall apart. Some people do a paint wash, but I didn't want to change the color, so I just sprayed mine with a clear matte sealer. This is what I used. You will want to make sure that if you use a clear sealer, it is water based. Oil based polyurethane products yellow over time.  If you don't have a sprayer, you can brush it on. I just choose fast and easy because I can. =) 

Here it is from an angle.

I was so excited, I just had to test it out. These chairs weren't quite finished (they needed cushions, obviously), but these are the first two photos I took. I love my wall! So much better than ugly garage photos! You will be seeing a lot more of this wall!



Thanks for reading! 




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