Things You'll Need:
- Artist and small paint brushes
- Small sponge applicator
- Exterior house paint
- Colorant
- Several small containers
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Step 1
Cover it up instead. Daubing exterior paint in the approximate color as the bricks over the unsightly drips will make them virtually disappear.
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Step 2
First, look at the color and sheen of the bricks. Some bricks are glazed and have a luster to them, in which case you want a satin house paint. Most often they have a matte finish and flat paint will blend better.
Look carefully at the colors in the brick. Usually there will be flecks and shadings of different shades, and some older brickwork has a range of colors. -
Step 3
Get a wide range of paint swatches and hold them up to the bricks. Tape them there and stand back to figure out which main color blends most seamlessly. Then look at some of the underlying colors, whether blacks and grays, brown, yellow, magenta or red.
Go to the paint store and get a quart of your main color. Bring along some Dixie cups or small containers and ask the store for some squirts of colorant of any other shades you noticed. -
Step 4
Start in an unobtrusive area. Put a little of the paint on a plate or in a small container, and mix a tiny drop (really, colorant is strong and you need just the tiniest bit) of colorant into another puddle of paint. Use your little brush or sponge applicator to daub, stipple and blend the paint into the brick. Use a light touch and cover only as much area as you need to hide the drip.
Paint goes on light and dries darker. Let it dry, stand back and see how it looks. If you need to start over, fresh paint washes easily off the brick with a soft scrub brush and hot water. -
Step 5
Going slightly darker than the surrounding brick color will blend better than mixing the paint lighter. You may have to experiment a little. Let your inner artist out to play! Your touch-ups won't look perfect close-up so keep standing back and assessing how they look from a distance.
