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Painting Brick

14 years ago

I'm wondering about whether to paint my brick or not. Before you get upset about me painting brick (Yes, I've read a lot in the forums!) let me explain. We have very cheap brick from the 50's, I've been told that it is actually called "brick block" not real brick. It has faded considerably as well and has gone from a nice deep red to an ugly pink color. So, I've thought about painting, but what color? Do I try to make it look like brick still? Do I go with a red? Do I go for white? Any suggestions would be very appreciated!

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Comments (3)

randita
14 years ago
Is this exterior or interior (fireplace) brick? I think you should do what you want with it, especially if you're not pleased with how it looks presebtly. I wouldn't paint it red because it will look like you tried to imitate a brick color.

Whether it's exterior or interior, what about a soft ivory shade rather than white?
eipnvn
Original Author
14 years ago
The structure itself is actually brick which is why I want to make sure I like what it looks like. I've been told that if done wrong, painted brick can look very cheap. I do kind of like the soft ivory idea, I'll have to give that some thought. I've also heard of people painting or staining individual bricks to try to keep the brick look. I like the look of brick, ours is just too faded to keep and I think a powerwasher would destroy it.
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susanjn
14 years ago
In an older neighborhood near mine there's lots of painted brick. I've seen quite a few sage green type colors which look nice, but I happen to like the look of painted brick.

A new (teardown) house was built recently with very ugly (IMHO) brick and then painted dark gray. I'm not sure if they were planning to paint it, so chose the cheapest thing or if they changed their mind after seeing the brick IRL.

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