It's a (faux) brick waaaall

I love exposed brick. I mean who doesn't? I love it on floors, on the ceiling, and obviously, on the walls.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/95842298296334341/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/95842298297220866/

In our kitchen, in the south west corner, is the old chimney for our building. It has since been covered with lath and plaster and then with drywall over the top of that. I had this magical vision of us busting through the drywall and pulling off the plaster to expose the beautiful pristine brick that I knew was lying underneath.

Unfortunately, when my favorite handyman and I made the first hole to inspect the condition of the brick, it became quite clear that we were not going to be able to expose the original 1900's brick. Not only was it in terrible condition but there was a good 9" in between the brick and the drywall. This would have been fine except the floor stopped where the drywall stopped. In order to expose the brick on the chimney, we would have to fill in the floor which we were not about to do.

Plan B

I knew there had to be a product out there that resembled faux brick and thus began my search. I found this product (http://www.lowes.com/pd/DPI-47-75-in-x-7-98-ft-Embossed-Red-Brick-with-Black-Grout-Hardboard-Wall-Panel/1015475) at Lowes and knew this was our answer.

We measured, made a list, and went to Lowes. One thing we love about Lowes is that they will cut your material for you at the increments you need. This is wonderful because since we don't have a lot of power tools, it really helps us to be able to do these projects.

We started with the less complicated of the three walls, and then removed the baseboard and shelves from those walls. We found the studs in each of the walls and made a line across the ceiling so that we would know where we could secure the brick. We spread liquid nails across the back in two or three S patterns then screwed through to where we knew the studs were.

Since the panels didn't go all the way to the floor, we put nails in the bottom to temporarily hold them in place while we screwed the panels into place.

My dad telling me to stop taking photos and to pay attention......

Chris taking a break from studying to get in on the action.

Dad putting the final touches on the wall....

Finished with two of the three walls! The day took much longer than anticipated so Chris and I finished up a few weeks later (remember, slow and steady wins the race at the Marshall's....)

As you can see by the last photo, by the time we put up the last brick wall, I had already removed the cabinet doors, primed the cabinets, removed the countertops, and painted the other walls. That is just what happens when your husband is in grad school, things go in odd order sometimes ;)

Next post is on how we decided to finish off the brick wall look!

What are your feelings towards exposed brick in the home?

L

#brick #kitchen #justaintright