The Dim, Dark, Brick Wall Makeover
I’ve been annoyed by the dim darkness of our brick wall entry way for years now. I mean, seriously this photo below makes it look a lot lighter than it really is in the middle of a sunny day! I have to turn the light on in this little space every time someone comes to the front door!
I’ve been painting so much furniture this year, but none of it has been for our home. It’s all to sell or restore for others. But I began to look at my stockpile of saleable items and thought it was high time we made a dent in some of the much needed updates around our own home.
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The entry of the house seemed a good place to start!
This is a view of the front door taken from the brick wall side of the entry way.
See that hall table against the wall?
I’m thinking it is beckoning my paint brush too! (oh, I forgot to remove my iphone tripod off the table for this pic, as well as the mixed up Milk Paint ready to go!)
My son snapped this photo of me vacuuming the brick wall ready to paint it. That is all I did to prep this wall! (Ryobi Vacuum affiliate link Australia)
If I really wanted to be picky, I could probably have scrubbed and washed and wiped it down … yeah, nah! (as us Aussie’s would say)
All ready for painting!
Maybe I should paint the front door soon too, what do you think?
I love Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint for it’s authentic rustic aged look and that was the exact feel I wanted for our brick wall. A rustic French Country weathered wall! Here’s a progress video I showed on my Facebook page while I was doing this, showing you exactly how quick it was to apply.
The bricks were quite porous and really soaked up that Grainsack, making the off white look darker than I was wanting for the finished look. So I went over with a second coat of paint in the MMSMP colour Farmhouse White.
You can see here the difference in the coats where I’ve painted the Farmhouse White:
I love the white look, having left some of the Grainsack show through slightly in some parts, and the mortar left alone too.
And remember that hall table? It’s roughly sanded back here and ready for a Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint makeover in Farmhouse White too.
I used two coats of Farmhouse White without any bonding agent, which resulted in a lovely amount of chippy goodness.
I’m so happy with the result of that wall. It really lightens up the whole entry way.
I feel like I’m still in the learning stages of staging. Ugh, I actually feel a bit hopeless about staging to be honest. After taking the above picture and starting to edit the photos, I felt the hall table was too cluttered, so I went back for a re-take and came up with a simpler look below … I’d love to hear your thoughts on staging.
Simpler staging – yes or no?
Leave a comment if you have any helpful advise for me in the “case of the cluttered hall table”! Haha.
Meanwhile on the other side of the entry, I dragged out an old wash stand I had in another area of the house, to see how that worked in this space. Not sure I’m convinced it needs to be here, but it will do for now.
A closer look at the rustic milk painted brick:
Here you can see more of the depth of colour with some of the Grainsack peeking through the Farmhouse White:
Live DIY Demo for Hometalk Audience
Behind this entry way wall, is our living room, where the dark brick continues as a feature wall for that room.
For those of you who are visual, and appreciate a bit more direction, here’s a demo of exactly how I painted the wall, during a Facebook Live on Hometalk’s page:
This was such an easy project to complete. If you need further instruction on using Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint, you can view the tutorials I have here on my website under the Tutorial tab.
Before & After:
Questions about Painting Brick Walls with Milk Paint?
I had a LOT of comments and favourable feedback on the short video I posted on Facebook (see video above). Here are a few that I’ll answer here, in case you have similar questions.
Q: Do you think you could do this same process on exterior brick?
Answer: Yes, you can use on external bricks, especially since the bricks are so porous and the paint soaks right in. If in doubt about your particular bricks/surface, I’d test it on some spare bricks and put them out in the elements for a while and see how they hold up. You can also seal it using Miss Mustard Seed’s Tough Coat Sealer for added protection.
Q: Did you add any bonding agent?
Answer: No, I didn’t need to add Miss Mustard Seed’s Bonding Agent because the brick surface was quite porous and therefore the paint soaks in. Bonding Agent is usually only necessary on non-porous surfaces to assist with the paint adhesion to slick surfaces.
Q: Will you seal the painted surface?
Answer: No, I don’t intend to seal the milk paint on this surface. It is a porous surface and the MMS Milk Paint has adhered really well, and I know there will not be any hard wearing on the surface – it’s a wall and no one is going to be using it. I thought I’d just leave it natural and rustic – no need for Furniture Wax or Tough Coat Sealer.
Q: What if you wanted the bricks to look even more rustic and weathered than this?
Answer: I had thought about this, and may even do this one day. For a more distressed, rustic look, simply sand back as much as you like on any areas of brick, removing the paint until you are happy with the look you are after.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to comment below and I’d be happy to answer them.
I hope this post has encouraged you to think outside the box when using Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint as there are so many different applications for this natural, eco friendly paint.
Here’s another post on Painting with Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint on Walls:
You may also like this blog post on 5 Ways to Paint A Brick Wall.
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