How to Finish a Faux Broken Brick Wall

Wash your wall with soapy water and allow it to dry.

Sketch the outline of the broken area, with any cracks that you want extending from it, with a pencil.

Apply low-tack painter's tape around the outside of the pencil outline. The tape will prevent paint from getting onto the parts of the wall that you want to remain unpainted.

Paint the exposed portion of the wall with a coat of primer, which will help the paint to adhere. Allow the primer to dry completely.

Paint the exposed portion with a mortar-colored shade using a paintbrush or roller. Allow it to dry, and apply a second coat if needed.

Use a sea sponge to dab a darker mortar color onto the base coat to create a mottled, more textural appearance.

Tear low-tack painter's tape into 1/2-inch strips. These strips should be torn along both sides, creating slightly irregular lines.

Apply two coats of a brick-colored paint over the area, allowing each coat to dry fully.

Use a sea sponge to randomly dab a darker brick color onto some of the bricks, and a lighter brick color onto others. This mottling will create the illusion of bricks from different production runs, as well as adding depth and variation to the paint.

Allow the paint to dry, then peel off the mortar-patterned tape. Leave the tape around the edges in place.

Paint a faint gray shadow beneath each brick, and under the upper portion of the outline tape. This will create the illusion that there are three-dimensional shapes casting shadows.

Remove the tape surrounding the brick area.

Paint over the brick area outline and any drawn-on cracks with black paint and a small detail brush.