Faux Brick Painting

Here is a true testament to email filters… I received this question from a faux brick video client and it got filtered into my email archive folder. So… her call for help about painting fake brick never got answered. Yikes!
Here is Marcia’s question:

Here are two pictures of what I had done before getting your video. This is done is a very small bathroom…I was standing in the shower in order to get the pictures. LOL As you can see I had already done the brick and added some ferns growing out of the mortar. The walls are a painted in a ceiling white. What would you suggest I use for a breakout color around the brick? Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

The first two pictures are the ones Marcia sent for me to critique.

The second two pictures are my suggestion areas.

Here are my suggestions for Marcia:

1. The ferns are pretty, but would be better if it appeared that they were growing out of the edge of a broken area and onto the wall instead of onto the brick. I do like the tiny pieces of fern that you have growing between the bricks over the doorway.

2. The very dark brick is a bit too dark. It captures the eye and doesn’t let the eye move from area to area.

3. Because the grout lines are all very light it is hard to add the light and dark shadows that are recommended in my videos. The shadow is what creates the dimension and realism.

4. The breakout or broken areas that would be edges of plaster over the bricks don’t have any shadows to define them from the bricks. The bricks appear to be laying on top of the wall instead of underneath the broken plaster areas.

5. The lines I put into the pictures are general guidelines for the torn paper technique used in the video. Can you see how I have taken the broken edges clear onto the ceiling area. The ceiling is a great area to add you cracked edges. This gives the entire room the look of broken plaster.

6 The white walls are much too bright… which I know you already understand. The faux finish on the walls in a bathroom should be kept light and not too aged. It will seem dirty with all the chrome/brass and mirror in your bath.

You should try a very light beige sponged on with white. This will actually give the bath a spa feel on the walls. Read about this painting here: Tuscan Style Faux Painting

More about the Faux Brick Video can be found here: Fake Brick Video

Oh… and check out this great set of Pictures of Broken Plaster Over Faux Brick Walls.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 at 9:36 pm and is filed under Faux Brick. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.