Oh my goodness friends! This wall is DONE! Can I get a Hallelujah??? I do not know what in the world we were thinking, starting this project right after the New Year. As if the month of December wasn’t crazy enough…let’s just add in a project right at the beginning of the year! Start out with a bang right? Well thankfully it is done and it is EXACTLY what we had envisioned. Now if I could get the hubby to just shiplap 95% of the rest of the downstairs! I kid I kid… or do I?
Okay so it really did’t take as long as I am making it out to seem. In fact it really only took a few hours all said and done. It was just that the rest of the house got to be a disaster in the process of us working on this project. But everything is back to normal now!
Today I am going to share how we did the Brick part of this wall. Coming soon will be a blog post on the Board and Batten part of it. I was inspired by a lot of people in the Instagram community but mostly Nelly Friedel’s gorgeous fireplace was the inspiration behind this project! Check it out HERE!
If you want to do this project yourself here are the items you will need to complete this project-
- Gloves
- Old towels/Drop cloth
First you want to measure the space you are working with and figure out your dimensions. The faux brick panels were 4 feet wide by 8 feet tall so since we did not do our whole wall, we were able to use only 2 panels for this project (and still have a ton left over). My recommendation is to have Home Depot or Lowes cut your boardswe chose Home Depot because we liked the color of brick they had better-just a personal opinion). My husband tried to use a jigsaw, razor blades and a hand saw and broke ALL OF THEM! Then we had the genius idea to have Home Depot cut it to the exact size. It was magical and a true life saver!
Once you get your boards cut to the size you need, you will attach them to the wall with your brad nailer or a hammer and nails. I would use quite a bit to secure it to the wall and nail it in on the grout lines so it is easier to cover those nail heads. You could also use an adhesive glue for a more permanent solution but we chose not to.
When we got the boards up we quickly realized the brick did not line up the way we had thought. Since we only used 2 boards and the way we needed it cut, it just didn’t work for us. See attached picture below. But we knew we were doing the German Schmear so it didn’t matter to me because you wouldn’t even be able to tell once it was all done.
When they were all done being put on the wall we caulked the line between the boards. This way they would not be as noticeable and honestly I don’t really even see where one board ended and the other one starts. I think the caulk helped so much with this! And don’t worry… it always looks crazy until it is all done! My hubby was quite nervous at this point.
When the caulk is all done drying, make sure to put some drop cloths or old towels down on your floor. This part is MESSY! Now you can move onto the Faux German Schmear. This was a bit nerve wracking at first, but as soon as I started I got the hang of it real quick. If you have any extra brick left over you can always try it on there first if you are worried. But trust me… it is really easy! I knew I wanted most of the brick showing and the grout lines to be covered with the joint compound and then smeared on the brick. All I did was wear some gloves, take a glob of the compound and start to run it down the grout lines. Once I got it on a section, I then took my spackle knife and smeared it around in different directions to get my desired look (if you are looking for a video tutorial on it then go check out my IG page HERE and look at my video highlights). My suggestion it to start with a lot less than you think and go from there. You can easily add more, but it is a bit harder to remove it especially if it dries. Also keep in mind that the joint compound does not dry to a complete white color. It is a very creamy color. In my opinion it is beautiful but if you desire a more white you can always dry brush on some white paint. You could also seal the wall if you felt the need to with some polycrylic but since this wall will really never be touched we chose not to do this step.
That is all friends! Honestly it was a super fun project and I am so glad we tackled it. It was on our list for a while and it feels so much more cozy in this space. If you do this, I would LOVE to see! Make sure to tag me on INSTAGRAM.
Hello! What color of beige is on the half wall?
Someone asked me this recently and I’m so sorry but I can not find it anywhere. This is our old house and we left the paint for the new home owners. I wish I knew the color. It was so pretty! And for the life of me and my brain, I can not remember.