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Back in November of 2024, SWMBO decided the beige marble fireplace surround and hearth were toooooo bland and decided it needed to be replaced with brick. Removing the marble was rather easy since it was attached to the drywall with construction adhesive. The removal did some damage to the drywall, so that required fixing.
Since the marble was 3/4" thick, the bricking needed to be that thickness also. Now there are brick veneers made like that, called "thin bricks", but of course she couldn't find any that she liked at the local dealers. We chose a brick she liked at a local masonry yard, had them sent to a facility up around Detroit, and had the front 3/4" sawed off of each brick to make thin bricks. Once back, I applied them to the fireplace surround with thinset and grouted with the appropriate colored grout.
Fast forward to this week and SWMBO decided the brick was too severe and clashed with the wood trim and mantle. Her solution was to whitewash the brick and mortar. Took me two days to determine the ratio mix of the paint and the time before wiping the excess off of the brick. Fortunately, I had a bunch of leftover bricks to practice on before committing to the fireplace. Took a day to do the actual whitewashing. I did a few bricks at a time to keep the timing the same and staggered the process down and across the area (like you do with roofing). SWMBO likes the result, but I keep wondering what the next modification could be.
Since the marble was 3/4" thick, the bricking needed to be that thickness also. Now there are brick veneers made like that, called "thin bricks", but of course she couldn't find any that she liked at the local dealers. We chose a brick she liked at a local masonry yard, had them sent to a facility up around Detroit, and had the front 3/4" sawed off of each brick to make thin bricks. Once back, I applied them to the fireplace surround with thinset and grouted with the appropriate colored grout.
Fast forward to this week and SWMBO decided the brick was too severe and clashed with the wood trim and mantle. Her solution was to whitewash the brick and mortar. Took me two days to determine the ratio mix of the paint and the time before wiping the excess off of the brick. Fortunately, I had a bunch of leftover bricks to practice on before committing to the fireplace. Took a day to do the actual whitewashing. I did a few bricks at a time to keep the timing the same and staggered the process down and across the area (like you do with roofing). SWMBO likes the result, but I keep wondering what the next modification could be.