OHHH this is what I did.When we were first in the ministry we needed a large home We ended up with a large but REALLY ugly ranch one! It had T1-11 on the top part and Brick on the bottom. The roof was variegated greens and white the Bricks were variegated reds,blacks and white and all the shrubs were variegated.It looked like PUKE after county fair food.Sorry. Not only that but an entire interior wall/ fireplace had that brick. I thought and thought about painting that brick always with hubby's disagreement.One day he was gone and I decided to tackle it.I like the look of country brick (you know some plaster still on)so I dry brushed it. I Wet the brush with paint then dried it mostly off.Carefully I dragged it across the bricks so that only the rougher areas got paint on them.(NOT THE MORTAR!) The solid blacks I gave a few more strokes too. My hubby came in halfway and freaked! Men have a thing about raw bricks and stained wood and the testosterone makes them think that painting these is abnormal.I said,"I hate this wall,it is the focal point of our home and I hate it! So if this doesn't look good I will totally paint it and if you don't like that we will drywall over it." Well,when I got done he loved it .Not only that I ended up painting the Exterior bricks the same way and it looked so great. The shrubs got frozen in a freak snow storm so they were replaced and the roof changed to a solid one. We moved out of that county 18 years ago but have traveled to visit the new owners and the brick is the same!I used an exterior cement/stucco paint. Now everytime I see a house with those UGLY bricks I wish i could get a paintbrush and give them a make over!

I would use the fireplace as it was intended to be used in my opinion. For the mortar you will need to re point the crumbling joints. To get it to match you will need to go over every joint. You will need a re pointing trowel that you should be able to get at Homeless Despot and a bag of brick mortar. Dig out the loose mortar in each joint. Mix to a toothpaste consistency and trowel the new mortar into each joint. Before completely dry you brush it out with a stiff bristle bricky brush. Or hire a local brickmason. It's not rocket science and if it doesn't look right start over once dry.

I agree the brick is the whole point on that style of house which BTW is one of my favorites. I usually tell people if you want to instantly devalue your home paint the brick and in this instance even more. What you need is what was suggested above and then get to work on landscaping that is waht brings a home to life .Play up what you have which is a MCM ranch no porches no pergolas just well designed simple structures that work well. These homes were always my favorite style and we finally have one. If you like the mix of the brick and cedar I can get that you could do something like this and BTW you need a walkway from the street to. Check out MCM landscaping so many great ideas to work with to enhance that home without turning it into something it was never meant to be.

What do you imagine the stained brick to look like, I'm curious about that idea. My first impression would be to look at changing all trim to a mid grey color to enhance the brick more, including garage doors. Keep entryway trim same soft white as windows. Consider either removing or cutting the overgrown shrubs way back on the right and the one that is blocking view of the path to the front door.