White painted brick: Our home makeover

I've been dreaming of white painted brick homes for years now.  I've pinned and drooled over hundreds of pictures of painted brick homes hoping to maybe one day have one.  My aunt and uncle lived in an old white brick cottage and when I visited them as a little girl, I just fell in love with that little house.  The love affair has continued but I knew living in an old home was not for us because we don't have the ability or money to maintain and fix it up.  So here is the home we have decided to settle down in.  It is only 15 years old and although it is a pretty and traditional red brick home, it wasn't the white cottage I dreamed of.  We finally decided to take the plunge, follow our my dreams and paint the brick.

Here is the before:

From red/orange brick with a green door.  I recently added the black shutters.

                                       To freshly painted white brick and a classic black door

                   The color of the entire house now including trim is Moonlight White by Benjamin Moore.
                                                    

 We hired a painter to do this because we wanted a professional's advice and expertise for this one.  He sprayed on Sherwin Williams Loxon Masonary Primer first, then sprayed on two coats of Sherwin Williams Super Paint in Satin.  We had deep mortar lines so it was tricky to get those covered well.

 The painter estimated that it would take 8 gallons combined of primer and paint.  It ended up taking 17 gallons total!  The brick really soaked up the paint.  He thought it would only need one coat of paint, but it needed two coats to really cover and give it a nice sheen.

 The next step in the makeover will be these columns.  They are fluted and round now but I think they need to be square to give it more of a cottage look so we are going to frame them in  hopefully in the next few months.

 I need to take some more pictures during the day, but I just love how it looks at night especially with the Christmas lights.  I am loving my new white cottage and it is a blank slate now to add color.  I am now dreaming of red geraniums and maybe a porch swing with fluffy pillows for spring.

If you have ever dreamed of painted brick, but don't live in an old home, here is proof that you can get that old-house character in a newer home.