Traditional limewash needs a fairly level and smooth surface to work. I imagine that your brickwork has recessed mortar joints, that don't lend themselves to limewash. You would need to fill all of these recessed joints, and hope that your brickwork is not too textured before limewashing.

This would be a labour intensive and expensive exercise.

Best of luck,

Dr Retro

of Dr Retro House Calls

BUILD Architecture Award 2018 · More Info

As this has just popped up with the update , looking at that picture , I actually like the bricks , and the white windows . To me , the biggest problem is the roof -- it looks aged .

Tidy that , presumably by painting and then you only have the curved garage entry , and the driveway , to fix haha . For the roof , even though I assume the existing darker shade hasn't been too hot , I'd probably go a lighter nice mid to light grey , anything too cream or beige or even blue or green tinged would look too cliche'd IMO , while charcoal would be too dark with those bricks .

I'm probably too lazy , but I looked and thought what can you do to disguise the garage cave entrance and the 80's driveway , but I actually think with the roof tidied , the letterbox done probably a charcoal or similar , and just me I'd pull out the yellowy hedge plants in that front garden , and do pebbles and green and brown and yellow flaxes and a low green leafy plant and a cactus , and you won't notice the bricks half as much .

Hi Laura. We didn’t limewash the exterior however have limewashed the interior feature walls and am happy with the result. Our sunken lounge had one brick wall that was painted a light more modern brown however there were still some dark brick walls remaining which were ghastly. I didn’t want to paint them and didn’t have funds to stack stone on them, so attemptEd limewashing. Am very happy with the difference and unique feature. See below for before after.

I agree with changing roof colour to light grey. I think we will do that, rip up drive and hopefully eventually change archer garage to an entr

Sorry not sure why I couldn’t finish my text above. Was going to say I am planning on changing the roof to light great and fixing the driveway and garden to more compliment the house. The garage is going and will pop an access door and window (not sliding door window ugh) in its place- hopefully some white or grey timber pan willing integrated.

Decided against exterior whitewash because have integrated it in several areas through the house, which may not be the best interior job but it complements the look I’m going for inside and was extremely cost effective way of creating some features. We spent some extra $ on features inside such as expensive fan fittings etc so they really compliment the whitewash look.

Hope you go well with limewashing. Will you create your own or are you able to buy some ?

It looks great! I was going to ask you, did you DIY the mix or buy special whitewashing paint? What was the process you followed. I’m hoping to achieve a bit of a lighter cover. To get them to something like the first pic, second pic is of our super lovely red 90’s bricks. I think we’ll get it done by a pro if we go ahead, just hoping to find someone who’s taken the plunge before us. Way too risky doing the exterior ourselves, in case we make a real mess of it 😬 (likely).

Enquire at Canberra -- I've heard theres some people there who specialise in whitewashing things . . . . . . . .

Your place Laura , IMO will always look that style even limewashed . Imagine it , as is , with the mission brown roof and white garage doors , and those Spanish style limewashed bricks , and it will look a lighter shade of the same IMO . Basically , it will be confused and confusing .

The off-white window is a problem , but if it was me , with a budget of $300 plus labour , I'd do the 2 fake vents in red or burgundy ( yes , I know , they are out of favour , but you can't hide them , so embrace ) and I'd do the gutters the same to tie it all in , do the garage doors in a mid charcoal , and the wrought iron gate to the left in a darker charcoal . Fresher , more modern , but all in the same style .

Laura- Thankyou :-) Maybe not to everyone’s taste but I’m quite proud of myself. I didn’t have funds for quite some time to do a feature I would like and didn’t want to paint the wall so am happy with what we have. It has brightened a ghastly retro dark room and since we can’t get rid of the arches in a hurry it has made it bearable at this point. Yes I made the limewash myself. I made it just with line and water and it has stood the test of time so far, being over a year. You can create a lighter look by doing one- two coats, basically the more you do the darker it becomes. Also the more you do it the less mottled it becomes and more solid white.

i believe (though could be wrong that your one is possibly German smear more than limewashin). Whitewashing again is different.

I could not buy the limewash product here in Australia though saw an awesome product in the states called Romabio (omgosh so nice). At any rate yes I made mine, I did see recipes which I think had salt to bond the product- but didn’t use that and was absolutely fine! I practised in my garage wall and was thrilled with the result. You used a brush to hatchcross the product on, that is the technique that stops the process becoming terrible. The more I have done, the better I have become (there was a lot of research involved in getting the technique right to avoid drops).

I am not sure I would want to try it on the outside of the house unless really confi

Sorry Continuing ....confident.

Condifent with technique and would want to make sure have the bonding in the recipe, though mine recipe was water resistant also. Anyways YouTube has some info on traditional limewash.

I sort of agree with potsy99- I’d be super cautious- I

I think there is a risk of doing this without a thorough plan it will tie in with the style etc. I love that pic you sent though what a beautiful style! Happy new year sorry about my disjointed posts