Transcripts
1. 1 Overview: Hey, today I wanted to share with you a do it yourself project that I decided to tackle recently . And we have this dark brick fireplace that I really wanted to lighten up to try to brighten the room. And I discovered that there were several options. Something that I landed on here. Just a textural paint and also painting by completely coating the brick. And I actually really like the look of the textured paint, and that's what I landed on for this project. So I just want to share with you what I did, what worked and tips and tricks that I discovered while working through this.
2. 2 Materials: What you'll need before you get started: So this project I landed on the material seen here, and I'm going to go through each of them with you. Um, I discover that it's pretty important to wash the brick before you get started. Everything I read was talking about a TSP solution. This is a TSP substitute. It happened to be on clearance out of box store. I find that it works really well home. I would not skip this step. So you're gonna need a bucket to put this solution in. Definitely some rubber gloves. Teoh, protect your hands. Actually, they say safety goggles, too. So if you're following things to the detail, um, now just a rag to wipe off the brick. I did discover that something like a terrycloth it sheds and leaves little strands of fibers on your break qasar shirt. So I've been just using torn up T shirts. It works really well. They do get a little beat up and just plan on two pitching it afterward. So once you clean the brick with the solution, then you come back and just give it a good Brits with water. Then you're gonna wanna wait until the brick dries and next you get to play with the paint . We have this really dark brown brick, and I wanted to bring it up, so I have a bright or a white, um, shade of paint. But I didn't want to go a pure white. I thought it would be a little harsh or a little too bright, so I haven't off white paint. And I chose flat, um, as opposed to a satin nor a glass, because I wanted a matte finish. And really, what I did was just go into a big box store, described my project, and they suggested, Ah, paint that was not designed for a single coat. So a thinner paint. So I ended up with, um, just like I said, box store pain. It's an off white and it's flat. I have my container to dump paint into when I am ready to do the painting. Um, I use a rubber glove just so I feel a little neater that way, and I'm actually applying the feet with a sponge. Nothing with layers or things doesn't have any, um, extra texture to it at all. And what I find easiest is to cut just a bit of this and terror a piece off, which I'll show you later of the sponge. And then it's I can easily handle it in my hand and have a lot of control when I go to apply the paint. This sponges actually about the width of a brick. So it works out really well, and I've noticed a lot of the projects online. Um, some of them actually painted the mortar. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to do that or not. So just in case I bought a few I don't, um, phone crap stick. I thought that might work well. And also just a small paintbrush. So, um, I did not paint the mortar in this project. I like the look of it the way it is, but depending on your situation, it might be something that you would want to dio. I read that it's a bit tedious, but, uh, like I said, every projects different. So you land on what works well for you and that covers all my material. I think we're about set to finish this project up
3. 3 Pre-prep: Before you dive in, protecting your carpet and walls: a few steps I did before really getting into cleaning the brick on this project was I got out shot back or, you know, your vacuum feather duster. Whatever you want. Hit all the corners up along the ceiling. Any nooks and crannies where there might be some cobwebs or dust bunnies. Also, you see, I have trim up here. I put painter's tape between the brick and the trim. I also removed my mantel and made sure I covered the floor with a drop cloth just to protect my carpet from splatters and anything that I might drop during this process. Eso Anything like big? Basically cobwebs. Um, I wiped off before even started the process of, uh, getting into cleaning the brick.
4. 4 Cleaning: Deep cleaning brick before you paint with a TSP solution: So our first step is to wash the break. I'm going to you get my hands, covers this plastic gloves or whatever you choose stand then grab our TSP substitute or TSP solution. This calls just dump it in non diluted into the bucket. So next I'm going to grab my rag. And like I said earlier, just a cotton T shirt. He said The cotton T shirt works really well. Get that saturated with cleaning solution. He's just run down Blix. So I tend to go to the bucket a lot and rents out my rag. And what I, um, bring out the ragged don't want water dripping down my arms and down the brick. So I try to just wring it out so that it's still damp but not dripping. At this point, I'm gonna go dump my bucket and refresh my solution, So I'm gonna wipe this inside of the our place chase off. It's very city, but I do play in the pain. It what? It'll definitely be the spot that I paint last. I'm not sure how that's going to cover, but I plan to give it a try. So definitely getting some set off here. So I'm gonna call this good and next go get a bucket of warm water for the rinse. I want to get seen. So now I've got my bucket of warm water and a fresh rag I'm just going Teoh, give all the brick that I just cleaned A good rinse. I will expect that the clean, warm water is going to turn brown and gritty. That's gonna pull off additional debris on the brick that I just cleaned. So one thing I realized I didn't mention before it even got started with this project. I took a shop back in, slept all of the cobwebs and dust off of the Breck hands every dio as now waved off the brick with clean water. And I'm just going Teoh, watch a dry See how long that takes
5. 5 Painting: Tips and techniques for getting the look you want: So I've got my paint. Um, open this. I have thoroughly shaken the can. Um, if I need to, I will use that stir stick over there and store. It's more, but just make sure you're painted. Start up. All right. So I have got my sponge that I need a smaller piece in order to handle. Well, really, Just terror, piece of sponge off. And this is gonna be the piece that I used to apply the paint to the brick. And I'm just gonna dump a little bit of paint in my container here. So how? My glove on now? When I first started this project, I actually started around the corner in a place that was very inconspicuous just to get my technique down. So if you have a location like that, I suggest starting bear. If you have any brick, um, spare brick that you can practice on, do that just to get your technique down. And you can settle on a look that you really like and how to get it. So I put just a little bit of paint on the sponge and just do a light touch and you can go back for more pain or do a ah harder pressure here, depending on what kind of look you're going for or vary it up just to get a texture. Look, I just suggest pausing every once in a while and taking a step back and looking at what you what you've done and see if you like the look of it. So you may have noticed that the brick down here has already painted, and it's because it's I found the technique that's different than the Sponge Teoh work. Well, here. I use these little foam craft brushes and was able Teoh get into this area a bit more with a bit more control than using the sponge itself so you can see some of these little pieces of sponge here. I'll wipe this up before painting the hearth brick. But just expect this sponge not to hold up the entire time and kind of a shred on the sharp Blick actually came to realize with the sponge, using the the true exterior of the sponge that holds up a lot better than, um, if I'm rubbing against this torn toward head, you can expect it. Teoh a shred of it more if the this part for last because I did notice it was the dirtiest and truly it's more it's still covered with some sort. I didn't know if that would bleed off onto the sponge. It also, which is why I decided to do this last. But, um, the sponge looks clean. It looks like it's painting just like everywhere else, which makes it easy. So I completed the brick painting, and I'm just taking a few moments to step back in, see where I want Teoh Ultra things or make a break a little a little brighter.
6. 6 Conclusion a finished project: Show us yours!: So here we go. The brick is painted. It's got a nice texture book, which is what I was going for. And the room feels brighter, which again was the goal of this whole thing. So I am very happy with the finished product. And if this is something that you want to take on, then I hope you can learn something from the tips that I discovered going through this process.
Peter & Jen Cook, Tech & Home DIY Projects
