We are finally starting to get the ball rolling on the new house, so I thought I’d give you a little update, as well show you some of my inspiration photos for the exterior. It’s been a slow start due to weather and some other things, but man are we anxious to really get going.
They finally did the demo inside and even that has felt like a huge step forward.
The place went from looking like this:
To this:
From this:
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To this:
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As you can see we are down to the studs on every wall except exterior walls and the fireplace. It’s the kind of excitement that makes you want to dance for joy and throw up at the same time. The panic/exhilaration that I haven’t felt since giving birth and getting married. The here we go, this is so amazing and the holy &$% I hope we’re doing the right thing. You know the feeling.
Anyway, right now we’ve been trying to figure out what we want to do with the outside. It currently has a natural brick exterior in a wooded lot. While I think the natural brick can look great on it’s own, we’ve been doing some mock-ups and and throwing around the idea of painting the brick. I know that “painting the brick” is a derogatory and offensive term to some of you, but here’s the thing… Brick can look really dated and while I don’t mind an older look and feel–heck, that’s why we bought this dump!–I also want it to feel fresh and current at the same time.
Here are some inspiration photos I’ve been checking out:
Leaving the brick natural
Painting the brick white
Painting the brick black
Truth be told I’m really loving the idea of a black or dark charcoal exterior. Especially since our house is situated in a heavily wooded lot, I just love how all the greens pop next to black. Also, I just don’t think white houses sit as well in a wooded area–they stand out too much. Not to mention, a lot of people have been pointing out that a white home in a wooded lot is hard to keep clean and white looking. The safe and easy thing is to keep the brick natural. Heaven knows once you paint, you can’t ever go back. And a lot of people worry about a painted brick feeling dated in a few years. Here is my thought about worrying too much about what you will or won’t like in 10 years: You never really know what is going to stand the test of time. Certainly some trends are more, shall we say trendy, than others? But if you worry too much about what you will or won’t like in the future, you might never have something you really like–not now or not in the future! Yes there are certainly times to play it safe (and maybe some would argue that painting brick might be one of those times). But like I said, I can’t predict what I will or won’t like the future, but I can tell you what I like now.
Thoughts? Does anyone have a black house? Has anyone ever painted over brick and super regretted it or not regretted it at all? Any other thoughts or ideas?
Kimmy did a brick stain to make her white brick pop, and it looks great. Whatever you choose is going to look amazing, I'm sure!!
Thanks! I do like white houses…but for me the setting changes everything.
That black brick photo is really lovely.
Right??? Ugh, I love it.
You might think about doing a concrete stain on the brick, they have some beautiful options that would still let it look like natural brick…but with your pop of color/darkness/mood…but again, i think its one of those, you can't ever go back moments 🙂
Thanks for the heads up! I'll look into that.
Paint the brick! Exterior and interior
Thanks! I love your unabashed enthusiasm!
Love the inspiration pictures! I already commented on your IG stories, but I LOVE black houses at the moment and I'm always drawn to the ones I see in my area. If you're hesitant, you should just leave it brick for now and paint it down the line if you change your mind.
Yes–we've definitely talked about that. I think we might actually take some paint to a part of the house that is going to get torn down to see how we like it.
This home in Maine was painted with Japanese soot style. I think its pretty cool. In contrast the house next to theirs is white. In the woods. So gives a nice comparison
https://www.gardenista.com/posts/curb-appeal-classic-new-england-color-palette-spruce-head-maine/
Black or dark charcoal brick sounds fabulous!!! White is
too stark in a wooded setting. I am looking forward to seeing your home emerge from the studs!!
We have a black house! The siding is painted, but as another commenter mentioned, the brick was stained with a custom concrete stain. I was concerned the painted siding wouldn't match the stained brick sections, but they do! I will say colors look darker when it's your entire house than a 12" square you test the color on. Ours is BM graphite–it reads black. Very few houses in our early 70s neighborhood have painted brick, so I was prepared for opinions. I actually had people comment they wished they had the guts to paint their brick instead of finding a paint color to match it. On the plus side, staining the brick was also cheaper than painting because it needed fewer coats!
Numerous contractual workers have work that is off the books, Tarpon Springs house painters at the end of the day the painter is paid greenbacks with no paper trail.
Measure the living area and estimate the construction cost of the area including annexes, lean-tos and other addition but exclude the basement, attic, and porch. garage conversion
One of the loveliest houses I saw this past week had weather-worn, white painted brick. Paint it if you feel like it. It just may be exactly what you want now…and wear-in like a good pair of jeans to it's own unique character!