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I finally have the beautiful white limewashed brick house of my dreams and all it took was a few days of work and a bucket of Romabio Classico Limewash in Avorio White. 

I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out!  Although, to be honest, I was very nervous about attempting this myself, but pleasantly surprised with how user friendly this product is.  Our neighbors and even people driving by have stopped to compliment the results, so I guess we didn’t do such a bad job! Ha!

BEFORE: 

AND AFTER!!!

It’s quite a dramatic transformation and every time I pull in the driveway I’m still a bit shocked at how bright and crisp it looks.  I mean, we lived in this red brick house for close to 8 years and then BAM it’s white!

So okay, the process…

We purchased Romabio Avorio White from Home Depot in the 4 gallon bucket.  The mixture is diluted with water in a 1:1 ratio so it goes really far.  4 gallons covers about 1800 sf and after some quick math subtracting windows and doors I figured we had about 1200 sf.  Therefore, one $250 purchase covered our WHOLE HOUSE.  For comparison, our house is 2604 sf and brick on all sides.  We do have some large windows though, but still…even if it had cost $500 that’s significantly less than a pro company would charge.

I got plenty of estimates and there aren’t too many companies familiar with limewashing.  Most will just say whitewash, but let’s get real THIS IS NOT REGULAR PAINT!  The most awesome feature of this product is that it’s made from actual slaked lime. This is the description from Home Depot:

“Romabio Classico Limewash is an authentic, slaked-lime paint that is specially formulated to create unique white wash effects for Interior and Exterior unpainted brick, stone and other masonry surfaces. This Limewash paint is easily applied as a 1-coat process to a damp surface and is washed off with a garden hose or spray water bottle to create an antique lime wash finish equal to the look in historic Europe. Unlike German Schmear technique using mortar, this paint is breathable, high UV-resistant, and will continue to calcify and harden over the years and will not peel or chip off as it is designed for durability for the exterior.”

JUST WOW.  I am so very much in love with this product!

 

It was slow going at first as I figured out how to apply it – which isn’t as complicated as I was making it. Romabio’s website has a ton of helpful how-to videos.  Basically, a masonry brush and a garden hose and you’re ready to go.  It paints on semi-translucent and then dries more opaque and matte.  You have 5 days to change your mind and can power wash it off in that time. That was really the deciding factor for my husband, since he rarely shares my vision before we start these projects. 🙂

On a side note, I seemed to find every dang pile of fire ants in our yard…with my feet. Yikes!  Although, Texas is still pretty warm in October we waited for a cool front and I dawned my Hunter boots and had no more issues with the ants. It was NOT a fashion statement, as you can see from my pants below.

After completing a good chunk of brick we decided that we needed to limewash the stone as well.  It looked really yellow next to the white limewash.  Also, the grey mortar made the two clash even more.

Below is the back view of the house before the trim was painted.  Deciding to paint the trim was a no brainer after seeing the old trim color next to the white brick.  For that we chose Night Club by Behr Marquee Exterior.

Although I did a lot of the limewashing all by myself while the hubs was at work and the kiddo at school, I had to enlist the help of my non-height fearing husband for the peaks.  As you can see below, he’s not too concerned with falling or even moving the hose when placing the ladder.  Safety is not always first with him, but that aside I am grateful for his bravery and recklessness because ultimately it got the job done!

I worked in small sections so I could distress it as I went.  I tried several methods for distressing and settled on scrubbing off individual bricks with a wet sponge / washcloth.  It wounds more daunting than it is…give up a couple of weekends or 3-4 days in a row and you have a brand new house.

Here is the final result.  Dark black trim and distressed limewashed brick.  So much better!

We also decided to update our lighting.  I was very picky about these lights!  It took me a couple weeks of searching online to find the right style, for the right price, and lights that were closed on the bottom to prevent bugs from dirtying them.  Of course, Amazon always has it!  Click here if you want to order some too!

Decorating my porch for Christmas was so much fun with this clean white backdrop.  It really makes the front door stand out.

We also spray painted our gutters to match the new trim.  I love how the dark trim looks against the white.  Limewashed brick is something I didn’t know was even an option a couple months ago, but I am so glad I stumbled upon Romabio and their products.  Amazing!