Paint Sponging Finish "Faux Brick" on Our Kitchen Backsplash

by Melissa
(Kansas)

This sponging paint finish is done by using a rectangular kitchen sponge, and is very cost efficient.

Our kitchen looked terrible before, and the old paint was stained from the previous owners who apparently didn’t care! We did care so we wanted to improve the kitchen without spending a lot of money, and we wanted to be able to do it ourselves.

This sponging method was picked because it is quick and easy, and creates a beautiful finish, and we were capable of doing it easily, without a lot of experience.

Our goal was to upgrade the look of our kitchen for a minimal cost, but also to integrate some color into our environment. We selected this color because it was warm, and the red tone also worked well to imitate brick.

Our living room has a lot of darker, maroon red in it, and overall, this decorative finish really tied the two areas together and made them seem more cohesive.

The work only took us about an hour to do the backsplash behind the stove, as well as the pictured area surrounding our morning coffee area.

To get started, all you need is the paint, a square sponge, some painter’s tape and a paint tray.

The sponge should be the size of the brick that you want to appear on your wall. The color of the base coat will end up being the color of the "grout" lines.

Make sure to clean the working surface before starting. After that, the most important part is taping off all of the trim and edges, to avoid mess and keep straight lines.

You can use chalk to mark out guidelines for the pattern beforehand, so that your lines do not become crooked. You also want to make sure that you are doing a staggered pattern, or making sure that every brick does not line up.

Do not overload the sponge with paint, and squeeze out any excess. Try to apply even pressure when pressing it to the wall, and use the short ends of the sponge to start or end some rows.

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