The Bunker: Brick Painting

I've started painting the facade exterior.  I ended up going with a mixture of 1 part Burnt Sienna to 2 parts Earth brown, because I didn't have very much Burnt Sienna left, although in hind sight I should have used straight Burnt Sienna.  I put the first coat on last night and when I looked at it this morning it was much too dark for what I wanted.  First I sponged on some more straight Burnt Sienna, and when it dried I dry brushed the bricks with Vallejo Game Color Cold Grey and then Vallejo Bonewhite, to tone down the dark brown.

At that point my husband thought that the concrete should be lighter (he actually wanted me to paint  all the trim cream and make it pretty!) so I also dry brushed it with more Antique White.  It's hard to see that in these photos, it still looks very dark...

My husband was working at the same table as me, so I got distracted talking to him and forgot to seal the bricks before I started grouting, oops. Luckily I had only spread the grout on two side sections before I realised I was having a lot of trouble wiping the grout off and it was starting to lift the cardboard bricks!!

Once I had sealed the bricks with matte Mod Podge and it had dried, I applied grout which I tinted with a few drops of Cold Grey paint.

Now the grout really stands out in the photos but it is still wet, so hopefully when it dries properly tomorrow it will look a little better.  Then I will age it with a few grey and black washes anyway, although I'd still like to try and make the bricks a little more red, to contrast with the concrete trim...