Limewash Brick: Is It The Next Addition To Your Home?

Recently, we updated the exterior of our home with the help of Classico limewash. While our traditional brown brick home is very representative of the style in Texas, it never reflected us and our true style. We missed that farmhouse look we work so hard to achieve and wanted something more modern.

Today on the blog, we will discuss all the details of limewash brick so you feel comfortable adding it to your home!

 What Is Limewash Brick?

We are so glad you asked! Limewash itself is a type of paint made with lime. When applied to brick, it doesn’t just sit on top, but penetrates into the brick and acts as a sort of shield.

Not only is this one of our favorite techniques for that farmhouse flair- it’s a great way to keep your exterior looking beautiful for years.

Our favorite brand of limewash, Classico, calcifies to the brick or stone and becomes like the rock, just as hard, allowing moisture to evaporate and work naturally with the surface. It doesn’t peel, chip, flake off, or lose its color depth and essence. It will continue to patina based on the weather elements, and you can repaint or touch it up when you want.

Simply put, it is the perfect addition to any brick in your home!

Testing It Out In Smaller Spaces

Limewash brick is a beautiful addition to both the interior and exterior of your home, but we highly recommend testing it out in smaller spaces before you commit to larger projects. This way, you can guarantee this style of brick is for you!

Before updating our exterior, we decided to limewash the brick surrounding our fireplace. Knowing it was the same brick as outside, this was the perfect place for a “trial run”. To learn more about our limewash brick fireplace, check out our post here!

Upon first use of the Classico Limewash (in color Avorio White by Romabio Paints) we had found a quality limewash that was not only masonry-safe, but safe to use inside.  

Here are a few reasons why Romabio’s Classico Limewash is different than other paints:

• It’s mineral-based and made with Italian slaked-lime, and
• It’s toxin free, which is super important when painting brick inside your home.
• This product is so forgiving! You have up to 5 days to wash it off if you change your mind. 

The 5 days did not prove necessary for us because we LOVED it and couldn’t wait to do this to the outside of our home!

A Whole New Exterior With Limewash Brick

While we knew limewash brick was the perfect choice for our exterior, moving this project to such a large scale was a little daunting. If you are feeling the same way- don’t worry! We’ve laid out all the steps to ensure you will fall in love with your limewash exterior every time you drive home.

Picking The Right Limewash Brick Color

We can’t express enough the importance of color swatching on your own brick before selecting the color for your entire home. We knew we wanted a warm white so we swatched 3 of Romabio’s most popular whites (from left to right–Bianco, Avorio, and Cristallo) and let those sit on our exterior for a few days before selecting and washing them off.

Ultimately, we chose Avorio White due to it’s warm, rich tones. We felt this would compliment the new siding and trim colors we chose as well.

Limewash Brick Application Day

Applying Classico Limewash can be a DIY project if you have a one story home, or small masonry area, or Romabio can help you locate a PRO in your area who is familiar with this unique product and the artistic antiquing process.

While we love to DIY every aspect of our home we can, trying to limewash our two-story was too massive of a project to handle on our own. We did think about it though, but how could we get up that high!

Instead, we worked with the Service First Painting team out of Dallas, who had several years of experience applying this particular product to the exterior of homes. They were amazing! Our exterior was completed in no time and looked flawless.

Choosing The Perfect Accent Colors 

No limewash brick exterior is complete without choosing new side and trim colors to perfectly compliment it.

We wanted the trim and garage doors to really POP against the new white brick color so we went with a dark gray custom color by Behr. We selected paint from their Marquee line, which offers superior coverage, fade resistance, and flexibility— meaning it’s great for standing up to the elements.

For our siding color (which is on the sides and back of the house) we went with a light, neutral gray to compliment the warm white brick and dark gray trim.

A Whole New Home

We can’t believe that this is our home now! We couldn’t love it more! It’s no longer a boring brown brick, but instead a polished Modern (faux) Farmhouse reflecting our unique style within. 

Our favorite part is the little bits of brick peeking through, providing that warmth and character we were hoping to achieve with Classico Limewash by Romabio Paints.

If you do decide to tackle this project somewhere in your home, please let us know in the comments!