Brick Accent Wall: Stunning DIY results Made Simple

Installing a brick accent wall in your home is an easy way to give your home more character and rustic charm. Thin veneer bricks give you the look of full sized bricks but they are thinner and lighter in weight, making it easier to lay a brick accent wall in your home.

How to install a brick wall in your home

Hey Gnomies,

I’m super stoked to share my latest DIY project with you. You may recognize this project from some of my recent blog posts. The final results have been hiding in the background of some of my photos.

I added a real thin brick accent wall to my dining room!

This is a project I have wanted to attempt for years. I had read about a few home decor bloggers that installed thin brick veneer in their homes and the results always looked amazing.

You may also like: How to Install a Brick Tile Floor

Thin brick veneer is just like regular brick except it’s thin. It gives you the look of brick but with the ease of installing tile. You can put it on your walls, your floors, indoors or outdoors.

If you like this project then definitely check out the Amethyst Encrusted Brick Wall I install in my bedroom!

How much does is cost to brick an interior wall?

Thin brick veneer is not only the easiest material to brick and interior wall but it is also one of the cheapest.

The average cost for brick veneer is $10 square foot where as hollow bricks can run around $25 per foot and natural stone is about $12 and up.

If you've never installed tile and the thought of it feels intimidating, this is the project for you. The great thing about brick is that it looks better when it’s not perfect. I’m really into that "farmhouse" style Joanna Gaines has made popular over the past couple of years and a brick wall fits in perfectly with that aesthetic. If you mess up part of this project, it’s no big deal- brick walls are meant to have character.

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What is the difference between brick and brick veener?

Solid masonry construction is also called ‘Solid Brick’, ‘Double Brick’, and sometimes ‘Brick and Block’. In its most common form, a solid masonry wall consists of an outer layer of brick and an inner layer of brick (a layer of brick is called a ‘wythe’ in masonry circles).

This type of brick is meant to hold up a house (think the third little piggy whose house could not be blown down)

Brick veneer on the other hand is made of the same material as solid brick except it is thinner and meant to go over top of a wood framed wall (imaging if the second little piggy whose house was made of wood added thin bricks on top of it.)

The brick veneer is just decorative. This thin and easier to work with that solid brick.

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A little back story about this dining room. When we moved in almost 9 years ago I gave it a fresh coat of blue paint. A couple of years ago I installed faux white brick wallpaper in my craft room. My husband was sad that I chose white brick wallpaper instead of the traditional brown/orange that he liked so we got some brick wallpaper off Ebay and installed it in the dining room. Obviously the fake brick wallpaper looked super fake but it did convince us that we really liked the look of traditional brick so I set out to swap the brick wallpaper with real brick veneer.

I contacted Imad, the owner of Real Thin Brick in Tukwila Washington to see if he was interested in collaborating with me on this project and lucky for me he was. I received the materials for this project at a discount in exchange for blog promotion.

How do you calculate brick veneer?

Multiply width by height to determine the total square footage of the surface area. Subtract the area of any windows and doors in the wall. Outside corners use special corner thin bricks which give the appearance of full depth brick (vs. inside corners, which just use flat brick veneer butted together).

I started by measuring the wall and spoke with Imad about how much brick I would need. We went over the different styles available and I settled on the Snoqualmie style with the antique finish.

Check out the full selection over at Real Thin Brick. They have many styles and finishes to choose from. Oh, and they ship everywhere so don’t worry if you aren’t local. Imad will hook you up.

After I placed my order the bricks were custom-made and in a couple of weeks I was able to drive to Tukwila to pick them up. I got to see behind the scenes where the bricks are made.

The bricks are made right there in the warehouse and are fired in a giant kiln. For reference the kiln is big enough to park a small car inside.

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Supplies for a brick accent wall

• brick veneer tiles
• tile adhesive
• grout
• sponge
• bucket
• grout mixer
• rags
• putty knife

How to install a thin brick accent wall

I had to remove the old wallpaper from the wall which was a serious pain but it had to be done. I let my 4-year-old help me. If you ever have wallpaper to remove I highly recommend you find some small children to come help you. They will love to help peel it off the wall.

After all traces of paper were gone I scrubbed the wall down with a damp cloth and was ready to attach the brick veneer to the wall. You can see some faint horizontal lines in the photo below. I drew lines every foot or so to help make sure the bricks lined up straight and level.

Can you put brick veneer over drywall?

Yes you can! Use tile adhesive and install the brick veneer similar to how you would install regular tile.

I used this tile adhesive. I used a trowel to smooth it onto the wall and then I “back buttered” the bricks with more adhesive and firmly pressed them into place. I did not use spacers. I was going for a “Old English Cottage” look so it’s better if things don’t look perfectly even. I eyeballed the spaces and aimed for about a finger width apart for the grout lines.

I didn’t use any kind of masonry support on my wall. The adhesive worked great right on the drywall and these bricks are definitely not coming off. They will be stuck on there for life.

Am I worried about the weight of the bricks on the wall? No. The bricks are spaced out so it’s not like I have 400 lbs of brick hanging off one area. The weight is balanced and the grout sticks everything together. This wall is solid.

Do you need to worry about adding masonry support on your wall? I don’t know. When in doubt, ask an expert.

Some of the brick tiles obviously needed to be cut. I used my trusty QEP tile saw. It worked like a charm. For more info on how to cut tile/brick check out this blog post.  Once everything is in place wait at least 48 hours for the tile adhesive to set.

As you can see the top of the wall is slanted which made cutting those brick pieces a challenge. I ended up making paper templates and traced them onto the brick before cutting them. Once I filled the spaces up with grout it looked just fine.

How to grout a brick accent wall

I used this grout in Alabaster. Remember friends, the rule of thumb with grout is: for spaces less than ⅛ of an inch use unsanded grout and for ⅛ to ½ inch use sanded. When grouting brick I would always recommend using sanded grout.

I mixed up my grout in a bucket with this grout mixer. Unless you hate yourself make sure you get one of these mixers for your drill. If you choose to mix it by hand eat your Wheaties and get the ibuprofen ready. You have been warned.

To apply the grout I put the mixed grout into a regular Ziploc bag and cut off one corner. Then I squeezed the grout in between the cracks just like I was icing a cake. You can purchase special masonry grout bags for this purpose but I liked using the Ziploc bag's better and they were way cheaper.

Smooth out any areas with gloved fingers and use a sponge to clean up any grout that has gone rogue. The grout will set in a of couple hours and will be completely hard in a day or two. The grout ended up being a little bit white washed as I applied it to the brick. I have to say, I prefer the lighter brick color.

What do you think of my brick wall? I still need to pick some art to hang behind the table and now of course I'm considering painting the rest of the walls. What can I say? I'm never finished! I absolutely love how my project turned out. I highly recommend Real Thin Brick and would definitely purchase bricks from them again.

Make sure you check out Real Thin Brick and if you end up placing an order tell them Crafty Little Gnome sent you!