DIY Whitewash Brick Backsplash {and thinbrick source}

This past summer I took the leap and painted our kitchen cabinets white. If you follow me on IG you have seen some of the progress and the little changes throughout recent months. I am hoping to have the full reveal real soon, but in the mean time I wanted to share how and why I decided to white wash my thinbrick backsplash. I will also be sharing the exact brand and color thinbrick I used.

Immediately after painting our cabinets bright white, I was not loving the brownish/orange tone the brick was giving off. The rest of the kitchen was so bright and white that the brick really wasn’t looking so hot. So that’s when I decided to give the brick a little makeover too. I love the brick and always have, so I knew that I still wanted to see the brick but I wanted to make them bright to match effortlessly with the newly painted white cabinets. I decided that white washing was the best and least expensive solution, and when I say “inexpensive”, I’m talking FREE!! I had all supplies on hand, my Annie Sloane chalk paint in pure white, a lint free cloth, a stencil brush and water. That’s it!

First, I want to take a step back and answer one of my most asked questions on IG. “Is your backsplash real brick and where did you find it?” To answer this question most accurately, I actually dug out the box of the left over thin brick we have and took a photo of it so I could give you all the correct info, after all, what are friends for??

 

 

We purchased this thin brick at our local stone yard. We walked into the show room and there were all kinds of color samples and I chose this color because it went with our old cabinet color at the time. I have found similar thin brick online at homedepot.com here, but it is very pricey. I can’t remember how much we paid per square foot, but I know it wasn’t cheap.

Now, back to how I white washed the thin brick. When I tell you this was the easiest DIY ever, I'm totally not even kidding!! I think it took me all of a half hour to do our entire kitchen.

 

 

The first thing I did was pour a small amount of my chalk paint into a container. Then I added some water. The amount of water you use is totally up to you. I still wanted to be able to see the brick and all its loveliness, so I knew that I needed to really water down my paint to get the look I was going for. If you plan on taking this project on and really want that pure white washed look, then simply use less water in your chalk paint.

 

 

I started with the groves and painted all the grout with my stencil brush. The one thing I wanted was the grout to be pure white and to stand out. The grout color before was a tan color, yuck, so I used more of the chalk paint for the grout and less water. Then on to the bricks. Using my wash formula on my brush, I lightly went over the brick pieces. This is where my lint free cloth came in super handy. When I noticed that some bricks looked more "white" I simply wet my cloth and removed some of the wash. I did this over and over until I obtained the look I wanted. Honestly, using the stencil brush was really what helped in achieving this look. It was sturdy enough to hold the wash without giving the brick that "painted" look.

                   

Now our kitchen looks seamless like the brick was meant to be there!

 I can't wait to share the final reveal with you!

In the mean time be sure to follow me on Instagram to see what I'm up to on a daily basis!

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by!

*Linking up with*

Stone Gable