Wow, very dramatic and matches the style of the rest of the room! I love that you could play off the dark and light by using white pieces against that dark brick. Very cool!

dark? heck no! Texas Leather wouldn't be too dark for the kitchen unless you had trouble with the cabinets... but you're allowed to play games with the available light, you know... since the hallway is darkest, you might want to go with a lighter shade there - or have it all given a base coat of the Oaks, or something like Wilmington Tan, and use a sponge-roller to go over the hallway in something 'brighter' like the Stuart Gold, or lighter, like the Concord Ivory, to make up for the lack of light. I'd want to know more about the rooms, though - the way light moves across open spaces matters more in some cases than others, where you can get a pink/god light in from the east, a blue light from the north, and a green light from the west, as the setting sun passes through trees or something.

Once the bricks were dry after the scrubbing bubbles, it was clear that the bubbles had worked pretty well. I did another round of the bubbles and this time, I could see the foam turning brown as it broke up the soot, so I think this second episode will work even better than the first. I am so excited about having that soot gone after FOUR years. I also bought a can of oven cleaner in case additional bubble applications don't remove it all.

Clean first. Wire brush, a lot of elbow grease..not sure the suggested solvent for this application. If not in use..a decision on the effect you want to give has to be made. Black would make it LOOK like it is used, white would eliminate a black hole.... I wiped mine down best I could then put a mirror in the back wall. Candles are all I burned in it.