Romabio Whitewash Garage & Updated Wire Rose Trellis
I whitewashed our red brick garage with Romabio Avorio White Limewash in March and I couldn’t be happier with the result. My only regret is not doing it sooner!
Whitewashing the garage was a quick and easy project that I got done in one weekend!
Before whitewashing the garage, I didn’t like how the red brick didn’t match the natural stone of our house. I decided to whitewash the garage in Avorio White so that it would coordinate with the white siding on the second level. As a bonus, it has made the colors in our beautiful landscape really pop! The roses and clematis especially now standout against the white backdrop.
I snapped this photo in May when the landscape was still filling in.
This was my second time using Romabio limewash to cover up unsightly brick. Two years ago, I used Romabio Bianco White to cover up the orangey-colored brick surrounding our fireplace. It made such a dramatic impact to the living room!
The process of white washing is quite simple. Wet the brick with water, then apply the diluted white wash. When whitewashing the garage, I used the power washer to blast away mildew, dirt and grime that had built up over the years. After power washing, I began to apply the white wash, making sure to spray the brick with water as-needed so it didn’t dry out. I applied two coats, using the entire 4 Gallon bucked of limewash on three sides of the garage (the back side happened to already be cream colored). I had the entire project finished in one weekend!
In the image above, Nepeta ‘Walkers Low’ and Itoh Peony Bartzella were already in bloom. Jackmanii Clematis begins to climb the garage wall!
It was a breakout year for the Itoh Peony Bartzella. Now on its third season, the Itoh was spectacular with 16 large flowers! (It only had one flower the first season and four in its second season.)
I saw a video on Instagram from Steve Parnham, a gardener at David Austin Roses, that showed him training his roses onto the side of a brick building using hook eyes and wire attached to the wall. I decided to copy the strategy and found a Wall Trellis Kit on Amazon. Instead of screwing in the hook eyes to the brick, the kit came with glue that allowed me to fasten them to the garage without any drilling. After attaching all of the hook eyes, you run the wire between the hooks.
The Colette Climbing Rose that I planted in the Fall of 2019 looks very happy this year! If you click on each photo to enlarge them, you can see the hooks and wires attached to the brick wall.
The wire wall trellis has worked particularly well for the clematis whose vines love to reach and wrap around everything and anything!
The deep pruple of Jackmanii Clematics pops against the white brick!
Our garage still needs a bit of work. We need a new garage door because the wood in ours is starting to rot. We also need to replace the doors to the storage space above the garage door and touch up the trim (which I accidentally blasted some paint off when power washing…whoops!). The white wash alone made such a dramatic improvement. I am eager for the eager to update this post in a few weeks with a photo when the Little Limelight Hydrangea are blooming!
