Hello Everyone,
I found this site after hours of searching and looking for things like:
"Whitewash disasters and fixes"
"How to fix hearth grout"
"Is my grout ruined or is it supposed to be that way?"
So based on those searches, you can probably figure out why I'm posting
A bit of backstory. We recently converted our family room fireplace from wood to gas. It's been fine although like so many others, I never cared for the red brick. It is out of place with the rest of the family room. As we just bought the house a year ago and are operating on one lonely income while I continue to search for work, we are taking improvements slowly so the red brick hasn't been that big of an eyesore.
But then I went to a neighbor's house last week and fell in love with her whitewashed fireplace and had to have it NOW. Problem is that the rest of her family room had already been upgraded and decorated and her fireplace was in much better condition. Her bricks are in better condition - larger, smoother, and prettier colors - and the grout (or is it called mortar?) is smooth and even with the bricks. See the picture of the nice fireplace with the fire going...that's the one I liked.
She sent me the tutorial she followed and I used it. When I finished one coat, I didn't care for it too much, I thought it looked too white against my white mantle. So I bought some light grey and added that to the white and added even more water thinking it would add a little and well, now it looks painted.
But it looked painted after one coat. I think. None of the brick color is coming through. I wanted it more transparent (like the closeup with the pink). One suggestion was to use Magic Erasers. I tried that and it took almost an entire eraser on one brick. Remember my comment about being unemployed? I'm not spending that I tried Brillo pads and that just tore holes in all my rubber gloves. Tried different abrasive sponges and that ruined the sponges. I did try hot water and some TSP with a scrubby and it worked a little but I feared that without a plan, I would make a bigger mess.
So, where to go from here? Do I need to do something to the grout/mortar? My fingers are torn up badly and I am not good with projects so I have about a day of attention/frustration span left on this project. The colors are upsetting me a lot. I don't want monotone and I need help.
And why are so many of my bricks smudged in the corners? There is a closeup of 2 that is on the base but there are a lot of them like this or the corners are really smooth. Just wondering why.
I'm very appreciative of anything you might be able to do to help me with this. We are new homeowners and I'm not very good with projects, apparently. But I'm frustrated and I want this to look better than it does.
I found this site after hours of searching and looking for things like:
"Whitewash disasters and fixes"
"How to fix hearth grout"
"Is my grout ruined or is it supposed to be that way?"
So based on those searches, you can probably figure out why I'm posting
A bit of backstory. We recently converted our family room fireplace from wood to gas. It's been fine although like so many others, I never cared for the red brick. It is out of place with the rest of the family room. As we just bought the house a year ago and are operating on one lonely income while I continue to search for work, we are taking improvements slowly so the red brick hasn't been that big of an eyesore.
But then I went to a neighbor's house last week and fell in love with her whitewashed fireplace and had to have it NOW. Problem is that the rest of her family room had already been upgraded and decorated and her fireplace was in much better condition. Her bricks are in better condition - larger, smoother, and prettier colors - and the grout (or is it called mortar?) is smooth and even with the bricks. See the picture of the nice fireplace with the fire going...that's the one I liked.
She sent me the tutorial she followed and I used it. When I finished one coat, I didn't care for it too much, I thought it looked too white against my white mantle. So I bought some light grey and added that to the white and added even more water thinking it would add a little and well, now it looks painted.
But it looked painted after one coat. I think. None of the brick color is coming through. I wanted it more transparent (like the closeup with the pink). One suggestion was to use Magic Erasers. I tried that and it took almost an entire eraser on one brick. Remember my comment about being unemployed? I'm not spending that
I tried Brillo pads and that just tore holes in all my rubber gloves. Tried different abrasive sponges and that ruined the sponges. I did try hot water and some TSP with a scrubby and it worked a little but I feared that without a plan, I would make a bigger mess. So, where to go from here? Do I need to do something to the grout/mortar? My fingers are torn up badly and I am not good with projects so I have about a day of attention/frustration span left on this project. The colors are upsetting me a lot. I don't want monotone and I need help.
And why are so many of my bricks smudged in the corners? There is a closeup of 2 that is on the base but there are a lot of them like this or the corners are really smooth. Just wondering why.
I'm very appreciative of anything you might be able to do to help me with this. We are new homeowners and I'm not very good with projects, apparently. But I'm frustrated and I want this to look better than it does.
