way to be brave! It looks fantastic! Great job! I love all the new colors as well, including the red door!

Looks great, I am glad to hear when people go with their gut feeling;)

It looks much better than before. Nice job. Did you have it professionally done?

This looks sooo great! I have a red brick monster fireplace that I am so tired of. I should do the same thing!! Tell me please what product and process you used?!?

I had my painter do it!! I over complicated this and obsessed for months/year but hated the brick so much I bit the bullet and did it!! Okay so you water down latex paint and I will check with my painter but I think we decided on 1 part water to 1 part paint. I used Benjamin Moore White as it had some gray in it and thought it was a good choice!! You take a brush and make sure you mix enough to get through process...better too much than not enough!! Then you brush this mixture on and follow up with a rag to wipe off this thin wash mixture. Be careful to not get sloppy and get drips going, the key is brush then wipe the area. It goes a long way. You can power wash to remove it or maybe lighten but I think I'm leaving mine alone. My husband thinks it should have been lighter but I don't so it's staying, LOL!! You don't need any special products just patience!!

@chantein- Go for it!! There is a woman on a blog that I read through and she was doing her fireplace!! Let me see if I can find it for you!!

Here it is:
http://www.infarrantlycreative.net/2012/09/how-to-paint-a-brick-fireplace.html

@sharleeg-I used Benjamin Moore Platinum Gray/white trim/deep Forest green shutters and BM color for the door is Poppy!! Very happy red!!

Good job! Looks great, "Congrats" and thanks for sharing your success and techniques.

@chantein we used 60%water 40% dove white Benjamin Moore latex paint!!

Hi, my home looks very similar to your "before" picture and this is exactly what I have in mind to update as well! Love seeing your end result, it looks absolutely wonderful!!!!! Can you confirm your BM color choices for siding, brick and trim? I would love to use the same. Thank you!

Very pretty!

@jkomisarek -Thank you and I would be more than happy to share with you!! I would love to see your before pictures! I did add some bulk in trim to dormers but whitewashing the brick made all the difference in the world!! You need to make sure you use a color that will look good with more of a white base brick look! I did a search and looked at many whitewash brick projects on Houzz and toured many websites some in The South and homes in Georgetown!! I was going for a more classic look, this gray was on two homes that I always admired and knocked on one door and was given the color!! This is the perfect gray, very classic, not too dark and muddy but not so light that it doesn't give much depth to the white woodwork. The colors are Benjamin Moore Platinum Gray, an exterior color, the trim was white not sure what white but it was pure white. I think he used the Benjamin Moore standard White, the shutters were Black Forest Green, the door was painted the poppy #1315! The white wash mixture is stated above, again paying attention to drips and working small areas at a time, start in area that won't be seen to start! I obsessed over this and actually went in my house when I gave the go ahead and didn't come out until the painter told me to come out!! I love it and there is absolutely no regrets! My house has a nice classic look and all landscaping which I'm working on this year looks great with the gray and white! I was going for a Nantucket/Georegtown classic look with a friendly appeal, hence the cheery poppy door!! I love that as well!! My absolute favorite change I did not post yet was my new garage doors with new trim giving the house a much richer look, not to mention my house is all garage in its design. We were heading in the direction of shingling the house for the look I wanted but realized that changing this 60/70's brick could do the trick and SAVE us ALOT of money!! We added a great copper lantern and will continue with our walkway this year!! I will post some more pictures or please inbox me if you have any other questions!! Good luck, these colors do not doubt, I have had tons of people complimenting the colors and they transformed my house!! Keep me posted!! Don't be afraid!!

More pictures-we also added beadboard to the entry ceiling, which gave it a better more updated look for little money and it gave it a more up to date look! You can see it in this picture!

Love how this came out. After seeing your photos I'm ready to give it a try on mine. Thank you for sharing along with instructions.

jack1260, your home is stunning! I love your entire transformation - the colors are so fresh and clean looking :)
Edit to add that the dormer build out is a detail that truly stands out - it is so well done. It makes your home look more substantial.

The first picture shows the dormer build out and the garage pictures show how no trim around doors and added in a thicker width can dramatically change the look! Too often people use a thin trim and just getting a little chunkier look gives it a more custom look, a little trick of the trade, even though I'm just a home owner who has learned as I've gone along!! Anything I can pass on I'm more than happy to!!

Beautiful transformation. Enjoy!

Love it. My Dad used regular whitewash, which is a bit more complicated to apply but worth it. Watered down latex should let the brick "breathe" the way whitewash does, since the water weakens the plastic nature of the latex. If you have to re-apply down the road, check out real whitewash. It is caustic when wet, but dries to a safe, powdery finish that ages beautifully, wearing away very slowly over the years, exposing the brick very gradually. It always looks good and the whitewash itself is dirt cheap.

@jenjs83 go to the area Design Dilemmas and I have ALOT of information in what I did to achieve this look! Let me know if you have trouble finding it, you do a search in Design Dilemma/Discussions and my thread is half way down!

I'm glad you overcame your fear. This is just one way to good design, but fear stops so many. Too bad for them, good for you!

I absolutely agree...fear stops us from making changes in most of life's situations!! I'm glad I trusted myself and went with what I knew already I just needed to push that fear factor away!! The house really does look more updated and the extra trims that I added makes a big difference as well!! Thanks for your comment!

I love the look - well dine. I am considering.. but live in a cold climate - do you know if it will hold? And if not how will it look when it starts to tear off?

sorry meant well done :-)

@etual- I live in a the northeast and we have freezing temperatures and it looks fine and it's been a year!! I don't think it's that complicated but I realized I was making it more complicated than it had to be! The technique we used was latex paint and water! That's it!!

I am so tempted.. I just might do this in the spring :-)

You should do it!! What color brick do you have? It's also important that you make sure the house color compliments the whitewashed look! Grays are typically good! Do some google searches of Georgetown homes and you will see some pretty combinations!

You can see the house here. Since the picture was taken, we've made a garden and painted the windows white..

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/curb-appeal-where-to-start-dsvw-vd~691686

I love the new look and color. The brick is a relatively small portion of the exterior, so it is well worth it in your case.

Thank you for this informative post. I have 1950's red brick home that is need of some major updating. Your post has been very helpful and I will refer back to it often during my decision making process.