DH and I were just discussing this because we're looking at a home with a wall just like yours, but your brick is prettier - really. I would investigate alternatives to straight paint - sorry, but I have no idea what that is yet. The textural look of painted brick is wonderful, but something about it always bothers me a bit - it's TOO monochromatic or something. I know there are exterior finishes that are used on homes - even new construction brick homes - that are really beautiful, have a sort of washed look with mottled color variations. Much as you don't like the specific colors in your brick, I'd hate to see that earthy element totally go away and that will happen with paint. If you check on the Building a Home page here at GW and ask about brick finishes, I'm sure someone there can tell you what product that is. Actually, I may even ask myself because it really transforms a house exterior and there are some houses we've looked at that could sure use some help!

B4 you paint it a solid color, go get some acrylic paint from Michael's. I would suggest a gray. You probably will only need one small bottle. Water it down a lot and try dabbing it on with a rag or brush. This will tone down the color quite a bit without concealing all the variations in the brick. If you don't like it, you can always paint over it.

I say leave it alone and decorate TO the brick not against it....
What's with the orange painting? And the orange/yellow toned baskets? And remove the wood bench and trunk ( but I like them a lot....but not here!)
Once you paint that brick, the only way to change it back is to move!....do everything else first.\
Your kitchen is wonderful.....take those colors and carry then into the other room.
Is it the same floor in both rooms? Or is the living room more orange?
I would move that open shelf out and change it for something closed and paint it white...like the walls.
Make that fireplace brick the only "statement" in the room and the rest like your beautiful kitchen in gray and white and solid black....not stripes.
Good luck....but don't paint that brick in haste!!

How about trying floating shelves on the fireplace wall in white or black with white accents? Or just large white items on the mantle. Your eye would go to that instead of the brick. I think the brick compliments the floor color. Of course you may have already tried things like that in the 17 years you have been living with the brick

I would not paint it. I think it's lovely. I would remove the painting and find another spot for it and add a mantel surround in white. That would perk up the fireplace, match your trim, give you a change and salvage the brick. It think the brick is pretty and once you paint it, well you can't go back. You have lots of options with a surround. You could either just do the firplace with some shelves on either side, or you could go to the ceiling and have the top covered with a spot for art. The brick would be a nice backdrop for shelves should you decide to go that route. I would google images and look up photos of fireplaces on this site for inspiration before I got out the paint brush.

I think its past the time to decorate to it, with that kitchen on the other end of the room. It just looks like two different rooms. I like both ends, but not together. I think you know what I mean.

Do you have the budget to install code compliant band of slate around the firebox and just drywall or plywood over the rest? We replaced the slate hearth and ~6" surround around a client's existing fireplace because the other stuff was crooked and had construction adhesive on it and it wasn't particularly expensive a job.

That way you could preserve the brick in case a purist wanted to come in and restore it at some point.

Paint it the same colors as the cabinets on either wall of your kitchen. It will make a huge difference. Do samples on a series of 24 x 36" poster boards and tape them up there to see which color works best.

Your kitchen is so different from the adjacent room it's always been an issue. You can see from a nearly identical wall how much better it looks. I say get it over and done.

The only clinker is that you're likely need to change out the fire screen to something more modern afterwards. Maybe that could be a Christmas present.

That's my family room fp in Atticmag, BTW! Thanks rococogurl for making it famous--lOL!

We LOVE the black, and think it looks kind of Tim Burton-esque. :-) It turned out even better than we'd hoped. It looks awesome with the floor tile (Ocean Beige travertine, installed over the past couple of weeks) and the black leather sectional and ottoman (delivered earlier this evening).

I had planned a thread linking to the article linked above, so will now have to get on that!

I just made this up to fill in between my doors in the small bedroom and it is plywood with thinner plywood applied to it to give a recessed panel look. It would be awesome to do a paneled wall that matched the grey cabinets with a little slate around it.

I feel absolutely certain about this: paint it or cover it. The red brick does NOT go with your kitchen (which is lovely, by the way).

I second the idea of painting the brick the same gray as the wall of cabinets. Gray will give you sophistication, and will be "interesting" in a way that white will never be.

That being said, it is possible you might be able to pull off the black, but you would be running the risk making that end of the room too heavy or dark.

i agree that the two ends of the room don't relate at all and the fireplace doesn't compare to the kitchen end in any way. As soon as I saw your kitchen, I had the same thought as rocogurl...paint it the same color as your cabinets in the kitchen...or go one shade darker on the strip. Black may be too harsh. You can always paint it black if you don't like the other color...but I think it would create a relationship with both ends of the space. I painted my awful fireplace and I'd do it again in a second. Everyone..friends & family loves the change. Palmpiset has a great idea too, but you might try the paint first as it will be a lot less expensive. If you don't like it you could go that route. I think paint or something similiar to what Palmpiset suggested is the way to go. I don't see how you can make the fireplace look smashing with the rest of your space if you leave it alone. Just my opinion. If you do paint..just clean it well...and prime it with kilz or BIN and you're good to go with latex paint.

BTW, I forgot to ask...I LOVE your striped rug. Please share the source. Thanks.

I think painting it could work but there's a lot of brick to cover. It could add a nice texture to the space if you paint it the same as the walls so that it just blends into the space instead of 'POPPING'.

Have you considered covering the whole fireplace with plywood and adding picture frame molding?

I could really see this is your space.

from houzz..

I had the exact same fireplace too. I struggled with it until I finally decided to knock out the hearth and dry wall over the brick. It made a huge difference in the room. My next door neighboor had painted the brick white and it looked o.k. for a few years but then it started to look dated/worn. She ended up putting stucco over the brick and put marble tiles over the hearth. It's a nice look too.

I'd panel the wall as pal suggested in the grey from your cabinets or, if you prefer that the wall not be as much a focal point, completely cover the brick with drywall painted white. If your preference is simply to paint the brick, then I'd go grey, either the same as the cabinets or one shade lighter. Black will look like a massive hole and not harmonize with your kitchen and white will be a major improvement but perhaps not as sophisticated as the grey.

I'd use a similar stone, slab or tile as budget permits, as your island for the surround and hearth. If you want to save a bit, you could use stone around the box and just the portion of the hearth below the surround. Then box in the rest of the hearth with panel painted to match the fireplace wall.

I love the ideas already suggested. Your kitchen is so light and bright that I fear if you paint the brick black it will just darken that end of the room even more than the brick does. I think someone above said "like a black hole"?

Pal's idea would look wonderful, but if your not into that much work then I would paint it a shade of gray similar to your kitchen. Perhaps also do a marble surround which would tie in with the white/gray colors?

Paneling would be lovely.

Dabbing on (sponge paint yay!) acrylic like Gracie suggested was my first thought too, just subtly changing the color might work.

But the style of a brick wall just doesn't work there. Paneling...even drywall...nice. Drywall with moulding for faux paneling...

I always like to see people try to work around the brick, but it is too late for that in this room. I don't see any way you can get that red brick to blend with your kitchen.

I don't even think the brick texture will work as well as some sort of smooth finish. I think black would be overwhelming and white is very common. You have the opportunity to go with something different, so I'd go with the grey.

Steel, tile, brick, commercial stove with iron grates, wood, all these materials go together well as a loft look. An accent wall of warm brick would not be out of place in a loft. Try google images for "brick wall loft".

At first I didn't think the black paint would work, but now that I have entertained everyone's ideas, I think I'd try painting it. Your concern about darkness is valid, though. You'd probably have to plan to hang white art or art with a shiny or reflective finish.

Try Gracie's idea for a quick fix while you work on palompset's panels....those are fabulous, pal.

i definitely would not paint the brick..... i think palimpsest's suggestion is a great solution!

Panel...
For example ...

Here is a link that might be useful: http://theletteredcottage.net/the-brick-fireplace-pick-my-presto/

My first thought was to paint it either color of your wall cabinets. Would be perfect. Then I see Roc said the same thing!

Cat mom, did not realize that was your FP! Looks great.

Not sure washing the brick with thinned paint is the answer. If you decide to try it, I wouldn't water down too much. You'll want decent coverage.

Thanks allison0704! I will be posting more before/after pics when we finally reach the after stage!

I had originally wanted DH to sheetrock over the brick, but for various reasons, he didn't want to go that route (probably didn't want to deal with it!). For some reason, I didn't really want to paint the brick the same color as the rest of the walls. I kind of felt that if we were going to paint it, make it a design element and paint it black. So, we did!

(The other walls are BM Aura Mascarpone, which is a really light creamy color, so the room is far from being too dark--which is good since it's a downstairs room)

I vote for gray.

If you want a quick DIY fix before the party, paint it the grey you used on the wall of cabs. WOnderful kitchen btw.

I would rethink other elements too, perhaps. It is not just the brick that makes this room seem like a different world from the kitchen.

In the long run, I would reface it, lime it, or panel it.

While the brick might look fine in someone else's home, it really doesn't match your style. I second the idea of painting as a temporary fix, but then doing as palimpset recommended. I'm not sure if Gracie's suggestion of using thinned paint to tone down the brick will work though since the brick is more red and golden browns and the look you're after is gray. I think you'll need to completely cover the brick.

I don't know if you ever saw the thread from Walt about painting his FP, but am linking it below as he considered and tried many of the suggestions above (like a white wash, some faux painting and lastly, painting it gray). The style and color scheme of his home are similar to yours so perhaps it will help you better visualize the different options.

Personally, I like the recommendations to either panel it and/or paint it in a grey matching the grey of your cabinets. Black I think would be too overpowering for your room.

Here is a link that might be useful: Walt's FP makeover

Realized I never posted to mahlgold's query re: her fp wall (I think I deleted that part while typing and editing my first post, and never re-typed it!).

There's a guy we used for re-finishing our front door, who also does painting, faux-finishing work, restorations.... He's an artist with the work he does. He sent us pics of a fp wall that he'd done. He'd covered the brick with spectrolite (sp?), and then coated it with joint compound. You'd never know it was a drywalled wall (at least in pics--never saw it in person). That's something you might want to consider of you don't want the look of painted bricks.

Estimate for our space was about $1500. We didn't want to spend that right now with the other costs for our current renovations, so we figured painting the brick itself was a good place to begin. Worst case scenario, we'd hate how it looked painted, and would only be out the cost of the paint (and our time!), and we could always have the bricks covered at some later date.

I personally think you should try painting the wall--either as a temporary measure or a permanent one (if you like how it turns out). If you end up hating it, you can always cover it later on. I like roc's idea of using one of your cab colors to paint the brick. Then, it looks deliberate (one reason why we went with black), and not like you were just trying to hide the brick.

I agree with a grey wall....either painted or covered with something. I'm big into texture, though so I'd be partial to painting it. But a paneled wall would also look fantastic. The kitchen is gorgeous by the way!

I'll echo the sentiments of others

first LOVE that kitchen, the other end of the room is disconnected - I think black over such an expanse may be too much. I would mock up covering a large portion of brick with some white poster board leaving good opening for firebox - No combustible material,code generally is 12" top of fireplace opening to combustibles and 6-8" from side opening to combustibles

1.The easiest would be to frame out your specified area & apply drywall - then little brick shows

You have various options from there:
2. frame out & have narrow shelving on either side of fp
3. remove the hearth step
4. Frame over hearth & make bench/hearth seating
5. any of the above & then cover brick with stone slab or nice tile

Some cool ideas in your space

[

[modern living room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-living-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_718~s_2105)

[

[modern family room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-family-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_720~s_2105) by san francisco architect modern house architects

[

[contemporary family room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-family-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_720~s_2103) by vancouver architect Portal Design Inc

[

[traditional family room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-family-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_720~s_2107) by seattle architect knowles ps

carrara or statuary crazy

[

[contemporary living room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-living-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_718~s_2103) by seattle interior designer Garret Cord Werner

[

[modern living room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-living-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_718~s_2105) by new york architect Chelsea Atelier Architect, PC

[

[traditional family room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-family-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_720~s_2107) by raleigh general contractor Blue Sky Building Company

Thanks everyone for your opinions! Sorry I've been delayed in getting back you to...busy day. Couple of thoughts..

1) In terms of painting, while the grey is a good suggestion, I'm really worried about it leaning towards looking "Scandinavian", which is not what I'm going after. Maybe as someone mentioned, it should be a shade darker than the cabinets, which can read slightly blue sometimes(don't want that on my wall). While I would LOVE the black and I think Cat Mom's wall looks fantastic, I do think it would be heavy in this space. Plus, this house is a CHC and the LR is accessible from this room and both rooms are visible from the front door. I'm just wondering what it would look like with the adjacent LR wall being white with a black fireplace wall in this room. So that leaves white, which is definitely an option, or at least a "quick fix" for the time being. Anything is better than what's there now. Maybe I should start with the white and if I don't like it go for the black. If I don't like that it will all get covered anyway.

2) I love the marble tiled fireplace posted just above and had found some really large format porcelain "marble" tiles from Porcelanosa that I had wanted to do as a backsplash, but they didn't work. Maybe I should reconsider them for this job. Would then have to deal with the hearth issue.

3) Found this cool company linked below that has some fun ideas for walls.

Last thing....a few of you mentioned changing the decor. I know that stuff on the right side of the room doesn't really work in there. Just trying to fill space with things I have. Is there anything else you would change?

The black/white striped rug is from Ikea.

Here is a link that might be useful: Modular Arts

January is tomorrow. Paint it now before the holidays one of the same colors as the kitchen cabs and even if you aren't in love or it isn't exactly the color it will be far better than now. I don't see black in your house though it's great in Robins with her furniture and mid-century kitchen.

The issue with white is that it makes bricks look cottage-y. The gray is already in the kitchen --- if it isn't Scandinavian in there it won't be on the other side of the room.

It will change the room enough for you to see the direction you want to go. I personally think that fully clad marble fireplace is great and could see that on the wall.

But nothing will give you a quicker fix or more bang for the buck, plus a new visual baseline than paint. Nothing to lose. It can be repainted if you don't like it.

I actually like the brick. The thing is, you can always change the style of your kitchen decorating while leaving the cabs, etc., the same color. One day you may get tired of your kitchen and want to add accessories and stained pieces to blend in with the brick.

With brick, if you paneled it (which I do like the suggestion of doing), wouldn't that leave permanent holes in it? That would be my only concern.

Painting is permanent. Your brick really is beautiful.

i'd get quotes on refacing the brick with something else. Maybe large slate tiles? Maybe drywall with a smaller tile or stone surround and a mantle.

But if money is the biggest factor, then slap some paint on there and call it done!

I ran across this tutorial for whitewashing a brick fireplace and thought of you Mahlgold. Maybe before you use an opaque color on the brick, you could try this and if it does not suit, then go opaque.

Here is a link that might be useful: Whitewashing tutorial

Catmom - I'd love to see pics of the finished fireplace room if you have any.

I think we're going to tackle this project this weekend. Not quite sure of the color yet, but it's getting painted.

I'll be happy to share them, but we aren't done yet! Plumber is coming today to install new baseboards (heat) throughout the downstairs. Tile guys come back later this week to install final pieces of tile and do some caulking. Yours truly and DH have to paint and install basemolding, and do all those pesky touch-ups on the (freshly-painted!) walls.

A couple pieces of the furniture are here, but they are covered with plastic, blankets--with the work still being done (other items will be arriving soon, or are to be ordered). Window treatments are on order. I promise to post a thread with lots of pics when we are done, or closer to it. :-)

I love that whitewashed look, what if you used a lighter gray? Maybe sponged a couple shades of gray glaze on?

My fireplace wall was repainted 3 times before I got the color right. I viewed it as tweaking. LOL.

Here is a link that might be useful: Something Else You Might Like

That screen is so pretty roc! I think it would look great near mahlgold's kitchen. :-)

mahlgold, I love your kitchen! Just beautiful. I don't have any advice on your fireplace. I think you just have to follow your gut.

Cat mom! How funny that mahlgold found your pic on line. Must have been funny to read the post and see it. So fun that you are famous. You and your fireplace on the Attic mag. (Send me your autograph in case you get even more famous. Send it through that tin foil portal thingy.)

kk--LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd paint it white in a heartbeat.

Since time's a factor, I'd go with the 2nd suggestion from gracie. It's inexpensive, wouldn't take too long, and would give you an idea for gray with texture. Beautiful kitchen!

This is what a little acrylic paint/water can do:

Before:

I did this many years ago; mine is "stone brick", not real brick like yours. Ignore the wallpaper and the fact that the mantels were not put back yet.

We had a wall like that as well, and after much hand-wringing, we decided to knock out the hearth and plaster over it. You can plaster right up to the firebox, creating a lovely clean line. Then we added paneling over part of it.

Just one more option to think about.

Here's what we ended up with:

Young Deb - your fireplace looks fabulous!!! I've toyed with the idea of getting rid of the hearth, but didn't want to start something and then wind up down a slippery slope of things I hadn't considered. Was it difficult to remove? I know you plastered over the brick, so maybe you didn't care about this, but did the brick that wasn't removed get ruined in the process? Any helpful hints would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

In terms of plastering up to the firebox, I thought there had to be a certain amount of non flammable material around the firebox.

My living room wall had floor to ceiling brick the same as yours. The only difference is we have built in shelves. I worked around that brick as long as I could. We were not able to decorate the living room in our taste b/c of the brick. I finally gave up and painted it. I used latex kilz primer and Valsper paint from Lowes. I chose a color called retro white. Since the paint, I love my living room.

My wall before the paint looked dark. I felt it was sucking the life out the living room. Our living room doesn't receive a lot of natural light. Now, I feel like the living room is brighter. Also I am able to decorate in any design. We no longer have to worry if something will match the dark brick.

We had the hearth removed...I can paint a room, anything more than that I call the pros!

It left a place in the floor that needed covering...so you have that to consider. We were redoing the floor anyway - we had 3 different bricks going on in there - the floor was brick, the hearth was a different brick, and the wall was white-painted brick. (2 years on, we still refer to this room as the "brick room." Guests are baffled.)

Plaster isn't flammable, so it can run right up to the firebox. To get it up, they firred up the wall, put in chicken wire, then started plastering. There's probably 1.5-2 inches of plaster on there. I'm sure it would chip off if someone wanted to get it off, but if you ever think you want to reverse it, I'd stick to sheetrock.

I honestly don't know that it's a DIY - but many are more adventurous than I on that front. Most painting contractors can do this kind of work. Even up close, it looks pretty much like sheetrock. We chose the plaster so that I could go right up to the firebox, and then put the walnut cabinetry over it to emphasize the geometry of the space. Not for everyone, but this is my forever home.