Brick

Thanks for the nice comments about Little T's party. If anyone has a little one who likes tractors, I have a green shirt size 4/5 to give away. Email the address and I will send it out along with a mix CD. Edited: The shirt is on its way to Catrina's little guy. I hope he likes it.

Way back in May I received many wonderful comments about the brick walk. I also had a few emails asking for instructions. In five short months, I have managed to prepare a brief tutorial on lazy girl brick laying. After reading this, I now understand why my children have a confused look much of the time. But carry on.
Start with a new four-inch foam roller. Do not be tempted to use one that you have used on countless other projects because it will make your bricks look like shit. Trust me on this.

Find yourself a brick to use as a reference. Think about the size of the area you want to paint. A walk is a nice size to start. If you are dreaming of a herringbone or basketweave pattern, I strongly urge you to practice on someone else's driveway first.

Begin with
the borders.
Using your brick as a guide, start at one end and roll a "brick" about the size and shape of the end of your real brick. Roll the next one about 1/4 to 1/2 inch beneath the first. Continue all the way to the end of your walk. Do it again on the other side.

Use your real brick to get a sense of proportion and figure out how many "bricks" you can fit between the top two ends. Using the same spacing as before, roll your top row of "bricks".
Roll the middle of the next brick directly beneath a space in the top row. Then just add a little on to each side to make the length that you want. Leave a space and roll the next brick beside of it. Continue like this for each row.

Helpful tips:
Do not let this tutorial deter you from trying this.
Skip the words and just look at the pictures.
After you roll one side of your brick, flip the roller over to roll the other side.
Use thick exterior paint.
I used Severe Weather from Lowe's. I don't remember the name of the color but the formula is:
105-3Y2 109-2Y30.5 113-0.5 115-6Y13.5
Do not ever (not even for practice) use fuchia interior gloss on drywall. The results will be so horrid that you will never want to try again.