I initially tried a white-washing method with watered-down white paint, because I had seen some cool possibilities online. I kind of liked it, but the soot and pinkiness still showed through. I realized that I just had to go all the way, using the slightly off-white trim color we already had in the garage. On the positive side it was easier to whitewash first because it dripped more readily into every grout line and crack, so I ended up whitewashing the whole thing first anyway.
