Before you paint your brick house, it’s important to choose the right white paint colour for the job. If you aren’t sure, I’ve got an exterior eDesign service to help you choose the perfect white for your painted brick house. Here’s a before and after from one of my exterior eDesign clients.
White Painted Brick eDesign Consultation
Since all our eDesign work is for the DIY client, I’m not there to style or take photos making it hard to get good after photos. I was so happy to receive these before and after photos from an eDesign client with this lovely note:
“Two years ago, I bought an exterior E-Design package from you & executed the changes. It turned out beautifully & I realized I never sent photos. We re-did the landscaping at your suggestion as well. Money well spent!”
Before
This house was a lovely classic brick, but she was tired of it, and the white trim looked too stark.
Adding shutters to the left side created much better balance with the right side of the house. She wanted a chalky, sophisticated cream along with a turquoise front door!
I would have loved some more photos, but she had already moved when she sent these.
Notice that while this house is black and white (cream), it looks much more timeless than trendy. For anyone worried that painting out their traditional red brick, let me just reassure you, it’s a completely stately and timeless look.
If you ALSO install black windows and paint all the fascia and soffits black, and choose too stark a white for your brick, then you might start to create something that looks too much like the farmhouse trend to be perfectly classic.
And reconsidering the landscaping is far too often overlooked. Landscaping takes time to fill in and mature, so the sooner you tackle it and install your new trees and shrubs, the better.
The newly planted garden will look pretty when it’s grown in and I liked the new diamond espalier detail on the garage wall (below).
Love the new copper lanterns flanking the doorway (above)!
My Diamond Pattern Espalier
Last summer, I also added a diamond espalier to my studio wall (below)! I’m excited to see what it looks like this summer when it grows in some more. Gardens are all about anticipation, especially this time of year.
My studio office
If you would like help updating the look of your exterior this season, you can find my Exterior Essential Palette here.
And If you’d like to learn the Killam Colour System of Understanding Undertones through the world of exterior, join my Masterclass for Exterior Colour Selection here. I can help you create beautiful exterior transformations like this one.
PS. It was Terreeia’s birthday this weekend and we spent it at our friends fabulous, modern cabin in Sooke.
This was the look of joy on her face when she fit into jeans I bought her at Christmas (didn’t fit her then) that are officially 5 sizes down from where she started this past June!
She recently had some lab work done and her blood pressure is back to normal (she’s off her meds), cholesterol, normal, no longer pre-diabetic. She had to reduce her thyroid meds, this year she has not been sick at all and did not get seasonable allergies. All her inflammation is gone and her body is alkaline.
I was truly moved watching her bounce around with happiness on Saturday morning! That’s what living in a new pain-free body does to you, hooray!
I’ve lost some weight too since we’ve been on Terreeia’s healing whole food/plant-based plan! All my pants fit better than they have in years!
I still can’t get over how good her Buddha dressing is made with water instead of oil. You know how, when people are dieting and at a restaurant, they ask for lemon for their salad and THAT’S IT??!!?? Did you know oil has 4000 calories per pound? I guess that’s why.
Anyway, I have always thought that a strict healthy diet like the one we’re on meant BOOORRRRING food. The problem with BORING, is it’s just not sustainable. Well, not if you’re with the flavour maven 🙂
Have you joined her Morning Reset private Facebook group yet? She goes live every morning (below) and she’s done many cooking tutorials too! You can join it here.
Related posts:
White Farmhouse Exterior Transformation: Before & After
Lovely renovation Would be nice to have an update in a few years.
Mwhitedesign
Happy birthday and healthfulness celebration to Terreia and you!
I’m curious which “chalky cream” you decided on for this house. I know that the same color will look different in different environments, so we can’t extrapolate that the color will work for us… But I’m still curious! And curious about the color you chose for the front door as well!
Thanks for your comments about the black windows. They are so trendy now and I wonder how they will feel to us in 30 years.
My California contemporary ranch house was built 35 years ago and the owners did black windows… frankly I am loving them! It suits the simple clean style of the home and our location. Not sure the farmhouse look will do as well over time since it’s more traditional of a look.
Happy birthday, Tee! You gave yourself the best present of all—your health❣️ Beautiful transformation (oh, and the house, too!) 😘 Hip, hip, hooray!
It looks lovely.
But the reason most people pay a princely sum for a brick house is because they never want to paint their house again! (The same reason that people install vinyl siding.) If I were house shopping, I would not pay “brick house price” for something that had to be repainted.
See my comment below, which is currently awaiting moderation because of the links. Whitewash is the answer.
I think there are two camps in this department and both are valid. Same with some like wood cabinets and others white. There is also a lot of bad, earthy brick out there that is not as classic as the red brick where painting is a transformative idea! Maria
Yeah, but then you may find that you really hate looking at your own home after several years or that brick repair is going to put you into the poorhouse. This is what happened to me. I thought that brick was a low maintenance building material and therefore worth the price we paid for our house. Brick, in general, *is* a low maintenance material – but not my brick. Which was poorly installed to the absolute rock bottom codes my area had at the time and which has been damaged by a shifting foundation over the last 50 years. I live in the southeastern US, where there is a high content of Yazoo clay in the soil. The foundations here shift and break all the time and there’s nothing you can do. This is just what the earth’s crust is made of here. We are looking at continual rehabilitation of our brick exterior for as long as the house is standing. $5-10K every year to keep our brick in good repair and waterproof. That is not sustainable for us at all.
There is a product out there called Silacote which is a silicone-based spray that can go over brick and mortar. It doesn’t need to be “repainted” every few years because it’s very long-lasting, you can get pigment added for almost any color you desire, and it is applied using the same paint sprayers professional house painters use. I’m just waiting for someone in my area to start offering it. Something like Silacote or the limewash/whitewash mentioned by Kay, is a good solution for people in my position.
It is possible to whitewash a brick house using limewash, in the old-fashioned way. This article describes the process: mortonstones.com/whitewash-limewash-brick-wall/
Regular whitewash lasts 20 to 30 years without maintenance and has other benefits, described in the article. For an even more durable finish, you can add Portland cement to the mix. Another article describes that process: allprojectsgreatandsmall.com/whitewash-brick/
The whitewash can be tinted if you prefer a color rather than bright white. Either process can be used inside or outside.
Years ago we had this done on our brick front steps, which extend up an entire story and relate to nothing else on our house. We also had slabs of limestone installed to cover the horizontal surfaces, which were degrading terribly in our harsh climate. When the brick was covered with whitewash and stone, the pile receded and became a feature rather than an eyesore. We had only one coat applied, so that the brick is still softly visible, rather than two coats, which would have made them solid white. You can play with this finish to get the look you want.
So much better than painting brick!
Thanks Kay for this info! Maria
Both my husband and I switched to a whole-food, plant-based diet and have the same results – we have said goodbye (good riddance!) to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, pre-diabetes, and extra weight!!!
For an easy to use and apply (and even removable within 24 hours!) limewash finish for brick and stone, there’s a product by ROMABIO called Classico Limewash. Available at Home Depot, too. It comes premade and it can be diluted if you don’t want a solid covered brick. See their website for great info. It’s supposed to be very easy to apply. I ordered it for our exterior stone but haven’t had a chance to try it out. I’m a bit nervous to change the stone, but what’s great is that if you don’t like it, you can wash it off with a hose within 24 hours. After that it’s on permanently. (I’m just a DIYer that’s done lots of research about painting/limewashing brick and stone).
Thanks for this info. I did not know about this, but I will certainly be looking into it at my local HD soon.
To be honest, I like the before pictures better – I guess I’m just a traditional gal.
Christy, I am also with you. I much prefer the look of the brick. The landscaping needed updating, but the brick?
Christy I’m with you!
I love the white brick. The landscaping made the difference. But..I love the picture of the connection from the garage to the house. Spectacular. When I did my vision board, I couldn’t find a photo of what I had in mind.
I’m really wanting just that one section of this home!
Agreed on the landscaping – it really added so much!
Great transformation. I love painted brick houses. I wish people in my neighborhood would paint their brick houses, especially the pink beige ones.
We had our 90s era punky orange brick painted 2 years ago using Romabio paint. It has a chalky finish, it’s “green” and does not chip or peel. It’s fantastic and we had it tinted Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee. (Front is a shaded Southern exposure). Highly recommend it! Now our trad house looks more timeless.