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You are here: Home / makeover / How to Limewash Brick Exterior-A Complete Makeover

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How to Limewash Brick Exterior-A Complete Makeover

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A WHOLE NEW EXTERIOR MAKEOVER WITH CLASSICO AVORIO LIMEWASH AND FRESHLY UPDATED PAINT COLORS

Every house that I drive by now I think, That house would look AMAZING with limewash brick!! What a super easy way to update the exterior of your home!

After 5+ years of orange, brown and cream, I was ready for a change. Who wouldn’t be with those colors!? Crazy that I LOVED the look of the exterior of our home back when I chose those colors. But I did! And now I don’t. How our tastes change!before shot of house with brick and craftsman colors

So, at the beginning of spring 2019, I started dreaming of an exterior home makeover. A somewhat EXTREME exterior home makeover. One that involved painting our brick. Well, not actually painting it, but doing a limewash treatment on it.

I’ve been eyeing limewashed brick exteriors for a while now on Pinterest. I finally gained confidence in trying my hand at it when I learned that it can be washed off within five days of applying it. I decided upon Romabio Classico Limewash Avorio White. There are many colors to choose from, but knowing I wanted a more true white, I went with the Avorio White. Ordering it online through Amazon allowed me to order it in a smaller size rather than the 4-gallon containers they sell at the Home Depot. I probably could have gotten away with one 0.67 gallon container, but ordered two just in case. The total square footage of brick that I was limewashing was 523 sq. feet. A 0.67 gallon of Romabio Limewash covers 450 square feet. The coverage that you get from it is really dependent upon how thick or thin you mix your paint.  (Affiliate Links)

two limewash containers

Following the instructions on the packaging, I measured out the water and slowly started adding it to my limewash mixture, stirring as I went. I ended up using about 6 cups of water. I stopped adding water when my mixture was thicker than paint, but thinner than glue. A happy medium between the two. It’s really a trial and error, getting it to the consistency you want. Just remember, you can always add more water but can NOT remove water. So err on the side of less water.

limewash and measuring cup of water

I found that it was easiest to pour my mixture in a large 5-gallon bucket to work from. This also allowed me plenty of room to dip my huge Masonry Brush into….which I highly recommend! This brush is the beast–covering a lot of surface and really working it’s way into crevices. It makes the job easier and faster. (Sorry for the dirty brush picture, but my friend is currently using it and this was the shot she sent me)…(Amazon Affiliate Link Included)Romabio Mortar Brush

I chose to start my project on a smaller wall, knowing I could wash it all off if I needed to….

ladder with a brick wall

I have to admit, I was a nervous wreck taking that first swipe of paint. But the entire wall was covered in no time and I was all in. After waiting about 20 minutes, I used a hose on the “Jet” setting to wash some of the limewash off….

limewash brick wall

I wasn’t wild about all of that exposed brick in the picture above, so, I went over it with more limewash. That’s the beauty of this technique, you can’t really mess it up. You can always add more or take some away (or all of it, if you absolutely don’t like it). After adding more limewash…

girl adding limewash to brick

I decided to let it sit for a lot longer (about 45 minutes) and then instead of using my hose to remove it, I used a large sponge and just worked at the areas where I wanted the distressing to be. I found this method to be SO much easier. A little more time consuming, but it gave me the results I was looking for. I worked my way to the other end of the house…

brick limewashed and distressed

HOW TO LIMEWASH BRICK EXTERIOR

Exterior Brick Limewash Materials Needed: 

Romabio Limewash       (affiliate link)

Large Masonry Brush     (affiliate link)

Garden Hose

5-gallon bucket

Large sponge     (affiliate link)

Exterior Brick Limewash Technique Step-by-Step:

  1. Using a hose, wet the brick down.
  2. Keep the brick that you’re painting wet, and paint a large section at a time.
  3. Let it dry for about 45 minutes–working on other sections while it’s drying.
  4. And then “randomly” distress each section.

The whole process took me about 7 hours….all in a day’s work. 🙂

Our house was a bit of a hot mess for a few days….

house with limewash and original paint colors

I’m sure we were the talk of the street…wondering what the heck we were doing. Until the painters came and my vision started to take shape….

house painted and brick limewashed

I am so loving the paint colors we chose. (Colors listed in this blogpost) They go perfect with the limewashed brick….

I’m amazed at how much our landscaping pops now…

house with new paint colors and brick limewash

This faux window has always stumped me. I love the look of it, but could never figure out how to make it pop, until my sister suggested adding some hardware to it! I LOVE IT!! And have even had people ask me if the faux-window has always been there. 🙂 (Here’s the link for the Carriage Handles I bought)    Affiliate link

faux window with hardware

Decorating my front porch was so much fun with the new look….

Girl standing on front porch with a hot drink and a fern behind her

Thought I would make that faux window pop a little more. You can find the flower box plans here! So easy to make and super inexpensive too!!

faux window with flower box

My favorite month to decorate the flower box is Fall….

flower box with 3 mums and gourds, pumpkins, indian corn, cabbage

And every home looks great with an American Flag!!   Affiliate link

front porch with mums, ferns, white pumpkins and American Flag

I couldn’t be happier with how this all came together. I feel like I’m driving up to a completely different house… (I’ve had a lot of people ask me about our new door so I’m including the link here)…

full view of house with limewash completed

If you are on the fence about limewashing your brick, I can’t recommend it enough!! Driving around town now, I’m constantly seeing past people’s natural brick and envisioning how amazing it would look limewashed! One of my best friends loved it so much, she bought the materials and started on hers the next week….

house freshly painted

One more look at our BEFORE….

before shot of house with brick and craftsman colors

And AFTER….

full view of house with limewash completed

As always, please comment below with any questions you may have. You can always DM me on Instagram too, if that’s easier. I love helping people step out of their comfort zone and realize just how easy this stuff is!!

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Until next time,

Happy Building, Friend!!

Be sure to join my VIP List below and never miss an upcoming post.

Other great outdoor posts:

Craftsman Garage Doors-Get the Look Without All the Costs

How to Build Board and Batten Craftsman Shutters

New Front Door and What to Consider

 

 

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28 Comments

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Comments

  1. Lenetta says

    July 18, 2019 at 10:22 am

    It hardly looks like the same house! It is incredible how different your home looks with paint and lime wash applied. It is BEAUTIFUL!

    Reply
    • Nicole Nigg says

      July 18, 2019 at 11:26 am

      Thank you! Always amazes me what paint will do! And the best part is how simple it was. 🙂

      Reply
  2. gina says

    July 18, 2019 at 1:33 pm

    What a great blog post sharing your makeover. LOVE it! I bet you are the talk of the neighborhood now. lol

    Reply
    • Nicole Nigg says

      July 19, 2019 at 11:10 am

      Haha!! Thank you! We’re really happy with how it all turned out! Gotta love easy, inexpensive updates!!

      Reply
  3. Anna says

    May 10, 2020 at 10:20 am

    Did you use both containers of lime wash?

    Reply
    • Nicole Nigg says

      May 11, 2020 at 8:57 am

      I actually ended up only using one container.

      Reply
  4. Wendy says

    June 7, 2020 at 5:18 pm

    Great pics your house looks amazing! I’ve been pondering doing the whitewash at my house. It’s a ranch home with brick on the front. Wish me luck.

    Reply
    • Nicole Nigg says

      June 8, 2020 at 6:34 pm

      That is awesome! You will love it! And it really is super easy to do. I would love to see pictures when you’re done. 🙂
      Have fun with it!!

      Reply
  5. Chrissi says

    July 8, 2020 at 3:42 pm

    Which gray did you use on the majority of the siding? Kings canyon or classic French? I love the combination you have used and it has inspired us to limewash our brick as well!

    Reply
    • Nicole Nigg says

      July 9, 2020 at 12:07 am

      That’s awesome!! Amazing what paint and limewash will do! I used King’s Canyon on most of the siding. 🙂
      Best of luck on your makeover! Would love to see the transformation!!
      -Nicole

      Reply
  6. Nikki says

    August 8, 2020 at 1:24 pm

    We just Lime washed our house in the same color and then noticed our windows faded into it. Did you replace yours or paint them? I’m loving everything about this!!

    Reply
    • Nicole Nigg says

      August 10, 2020 at 5:20 pm

      Thank you! We had ours painted Tricorn Black. That really helped them to pop. 🙂

      Reply
  7. Carla says

    August 11, 2020 at 8:55 pm

    These are the exact colors I will be doing on my house very soon. So glad I found this post!

    Reply
    • Nicole Nigg says

      August 12, 2020 at 12:20 pm

      Awesome! I’m glad you found it to be very helpful!! Best of luck on your exterior makeover!
      So exciting!!
      Nicole

      Reply
  8. Pudden Smith Gorlesky says

    October 9, 2020 at 5:07 pm

    Toying with this idea. Your project looks amazing. I’m in my family home. Ranch style, built in 1960. It’s classic red brick (I’ve never liked it. Hated it as a child actually!). I just worry about the upkeep and if it will really look okay with our add on, which has cream colored siding. Thanks for the info!

    Reply
    • Nicole Nigg says

      October 10, 2020 at 10:46 am

      Hi! Thank you for reaching out! It might surprise you, but the best part about limewashing your brick is there is literally no upkeep. You simply apply it, wash off however much you want the brick to be exposed and that’s it! So simple! And nothing that needs to be done in the future to keep it looking as good as it did the day you applied it.
      As far as the color goes with your cream colored siding. A warm color from Romabio (such as Tropea Beige, Riposo Beige or Toscana Beige) would be a good fit. Maybe check out those colors and see what you think.
      Let me know if you end up doing it. I would love to see the finished product!
      Thank you!
      ~Nicole

      Reply
  9. Carrie says

    February 5, 2021 at 6:07 pm

    Love the transformation. How did you change the window mullions from white to black? I know I can paint them from the inside, but your new black paint on them is visible from the exterior. How did you do that?

    Reply
    • Nicole Nigg says

      February 5, 2021 at 10:47 pm

      Hi Carrie…We actually had them professionally done. Our painter removed them and then taped each of them (since they’re white on the inside) and spray painted them black. Very tedious…but we love how they turned out. 🙂

      Reply
  10. Lana says

    March 15, 2021 at 4:03 pm

    Love it! Just wondering what color is your roof?

    Reply
    • Nicole Nigg says

      March 16, 2021 at 7:00 pm

      Hi Lana,
      Thank you! Our roof has a mixture of browns and grays in it. Hope this helps!
      ~Nicole

      Reply
  11. Jen says

    April 6, 2021 at 10:47 pm

    Love the colors. Is your siding vinyl?

    Reply
    • Nicole Nigg says

      April 15, 2021 at 1:50 pm

      Sorry for the late response…we have been on vacation and I’m finally getting to emails. Thank you! Our siding on the front of the house is cedar; but on the sides/back it’s vinyl.

      Reply
  12. Jen says

    April 7, 2021 at 8:39 am

    Looks great! What kind of siding do you have?

    Reply
    • Nicole Nigg says

      April 15, 2021 at 1:52 pm

      Hi Jen,
      So sorry for the delayed response, we were on vacation and I’m finally getting to my emails. Thank you! Our siding on the front of the house is cedar. But on the sides and back it’s vinyl.
      ~Nicole

      Reply
  13. Teri says

    April 29, 2021 at 1:31 pm

    We are getting ready to put our house on the market and I have been wanting to,update our brick. This gives me the courage to do so. I don’t have the sq. Ftg. That you did to cover I don’t believe. Did you have to do the back of your home? We have brick all the way around the house! So I’m wondering if it might take me a day or two and how much it might take me in product.we have a one store rancher but in the back it is two stories with the basement, all brick. But the brick just dates the house to me. We just had a new roof put on and are about to have new landscaping. It seems a shame not to put new lipstick on the brick!

    Reply
    • Nicole Nigg says

      April 30, 2021 at 1:36 pm

      Hi Teri,
      How exciting! Sounds like big changes ahead! I would venture to guess you have more brick than I do. Our brick is only on the front of the house…the rest is cedar and vinyl. I ended up using about 1 1/2 gallons. Hopefully that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions. Good luck and have fun with it. The transformation is amazing!!
      ~Nicole

      Reply
  14. Maureen says

    August 16, 2021 at 10:29 am

    I’m just curious about the faux window. Why not just have a window? After all, it’s not a window into the garage for which you might want to hide the interior.

    Reply
    • Nicole Nigg says

      August 19, 2021 at 11:26 am

      Hi Maureen,
      Great question…we bought our home already built. But my guess would be it’s more for aesthetic purposes. If there were an actual window there, it would look into our closet (not a terrible thing), but this design of the faux window just gives the exterior of our home more character.
      Thanks for your question!
      Have a great day!
      ~Nicole

      Reply

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Hi! I’m Nicole

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Through the changes of life and home, God remains the same. I am a mom, wife, blogger, builder, home designer, D.I.Y.er and inspirer.

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