DIY Network

Santa Fe Sitting Room: Dry-Brushing the Fireplace The sitting room restoration continues with a dry-brushing of the fireplace. From "Fresh Coat" episode DFCT-201

The renovation of this sitting room continues: the formerly bland white walls have been painted and textured to a rich new Santa Fe-style finish and the coffee table has a colorful new appearance. The fireplace is next in line for a bold-but-old new look.

The white painted brick of the fireplace is being replaced with several layers of earthy-toned paint. Dry-brushing, a spritz of water and plenty of clean rags are all it takes to create an aged, rustic new look.

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Figure A

Fireplace materials:

brushes
paint (Benjamin Moore Bridgewater Tan BM1096)
paint (Benjamin Moore Richmond Gold HC-41)
paint (Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue HC 143)
paint (Benjamin Moore Mink 2112-10)
water bottle
clean cotton rags

1. To create the look of several layers of old paint, Shannon used three shades of paint, Bridgewater Tan, Wythe Blue and Richmond Gold. After dipping a brush approximately 1" deep in the paint, she paints irregular patches of each color randomly over the brick, overlapping the edges of each color. This technique of brushing a very small amount of paint over an area is known as dry-brushing (figure A).

2. When the paint has dried, a darker brown shade (Mink) is painted over the brick. The paint is allowed to set up briefly before being sprayed with water and partially wiped or blotted off (a technique called pouncing) with rags, leaving a faded, aged look to the brick (figure B) (figure C).

Figure B

Figure C