The Forever Home is A Brick Home.
This is a huge thing to many people. They love brick. For myriad reasons, however, we just aren't enamoured with brick. More specifically, *this* brick...
I know, heresy. Yes. There, we've said it. But honestly, this house isn't ensconced in a lovely, timeless brick that harkens back to ages past. It's covered in That 70's Brick.
Click on the picture. There, do you see the little decorative swirlies there? On every. brick. Wasn't that creative? Eventually, the brick is comin' off, and it'll be replaced by stone and stucco, and it will be *lovely*.
HOWEVER, all that's going to have to wait for the den, and the master bedroom expansion.
So.
That leaves us with brick (this brick) for at least the next 5-7 years. (Because we are SO taking a break to enjoy this place between major jobs!) But in the meantime, my house is really ugly on the outside, and we'd like to do something not hideously expensive to update the exterior. Obviously, fresh paint on the trimwork will help, but I'm wondering if any of you have ever resurfaced a brick home? I'd love to mute, or blend, or somehow update these colors. Don't get me wrong, of all the palettes from the '70's they could have chosen, I am eternally grateful it's the "Orange" palette rather than something from the "Avocado", or "Goldenrod" collection. Yes, we dodged some pretty heavy caliber bullets in the color scheme. I'd thought about paint, but from all I've read, it seems there is a special place in hell for those who've painted brick. It's said they are required to pick the paint out of the mortar with toothpicks. So, honestly, we'd rather like to avoid that.
Still... this is... well, yeah. So, if we can do something to make it a little more appealing, I'd sure like to. And then we could further highlight the new Classic Neutrality of the brick with an appropriate trim color. (I've been angling for the slate grey you can see there on some of the bricks. Zorak prefers the more orangey color in some of the bricks - not the lightest ones, but the next down from that.) Anyhow, we were doing such a splendid job of ignoring this little problem until today, when we realized we really need to pick a trim color so we can stain the frame of new screened in porch we're building this weekend.
Tips? Ideas? Humorous anecdotes that'll make me feel like it's not *that* bad? Or should we just cave into the allure of 1971? What do you think?
Kiss those babies!
~Dy
19 comments:
Well, my mom's been telling me that the 70's are coming back ever since bellbottoms, aka, flared jeans, came back in, what, 1998? Maybe you'll get lucky and your home's exterior will be the envy of the housing design world...
But I will definitely place my vote for stucco and stone!
--Rochelle
Well, I'd say leave the bricks alone till you're ready to deal with them, pick a trim you like, and carry on!
Screens down here are great. We don't have a permanent structure, but we did put one of those screened gazebos on our back patio and it is great! These darned southern bugs can't get us; they just bounce off the screen. Heaven!
A special place in hell for those who paint brick. Why?
I guess I have missed that in my research. We are planning on painting the brick, lower half of our house, in a year or so. We have weather cracking the bricks & mortar joints and the special mortar paint will actually seal those cracks and making them less visible. Plus it is an inexpensive way to bring my house closer to the 'cottage' ideal rather than '70s ranch. Painted brick is not that uncommon around here.
If you know that the brick is going away anyway, why not paint for the time being?
Otherwise I don't have any suggestions. I've been trying to think of trim colors that might 'soothe' the oranges and browns and I'm just not sure.
Amy
Once upon a time we lived in a brick house. A pink brick house. It was very ordinary. After we sold it, the gal who bought it started to transform it, from "eh" to "WOW!" and one of the first things she did was paint it a beautiful slate grey color, mortar and all. I want to cry every time we do a drive by because it's so pretty...it never looked so good when we lived there. So, that's my two cents. It can work...and paint is cheap.
As I live in a 1970s tri-level, I feel your pain.
I love to look of painted brick. But since we've lived in this house ten years and I've yet to paint the kids bedrooms, I'm all talk.
This isn't any help, but I've told Theodore that when/if we build our dream house, it's going to be plain red brick, which never goes out of style.
Sorry I don't have any wonderful ideas, because I was going to say, "Paint it." Or you could do that southwest thing a la Disney/Knott's Berry Farm - the brick artfully covered by PATCHES of stucco.
Since I grew up in the deep south where a brick house meant one has finally arrived, your house looks great to me. But I understand that your tastes are different.
I'm going to post pictures at my blog of my neighbor's house, and the bottom of my house - both painted brick. The school-turned-nursing-home across the street is also painted brick, but it's a sandy color.
Good luck deciding what to do!
the only thing i can tell you...... we moved into a house where they had painted the bricked fire place - white. solid white. it was ugly. so i went and bought the texturized spray paint cans (you know the pebbly kind when it dries)and sprayed the thing a brick color. - mortar and all. it looked a gazillion times better. I cant imagine having to spray the rntire house with spray paint but hey? an idea??
I have no idea how to do anything to brick, but I kept thinking that it looked familiar. I clicked on the picture to see the little swirly things...where have I seen this before? Oh my goodness! I think this is the brick on my parent's house. I kind of like it.
Rochelle, yes, the stucco and stone is the stuff dreams are made of. It's going to be gorgeous!
Jennie, every time we try to sit on our little front porch and the skeeters find us, I think of your wonderful gazebo. That was such a great idea!
Amy, I think it's the perspective. The places I've read where they've said that are the hard-core renovation sites. Namely, the guys who have had to try to get the paint back *out* of the brick and mortar. It was meant humorously, and since I've cussed more than one DIY guy whose work was harder to undo than that original damage would have been to fix, it cracked me up.
I'm having a hard time viewing "5-7 years" as a short term thing. It seems like a long time to live with something 'temporary'. kwim? We're still in awe over being in the same place for so long. Working on that mindset :-) It'll come.
Mere, I love grey! :-)
Staci, LOL @ being all talk. Yes, the classic red brick would be great! I do love that look, and I found a place that can stain bricks to any color scheme or shade - their stuff looks awesome, but they're in CO.
I think a lot of my problem with this brick job is the actual quality of the work - it weaves and bobs like a drunken sailor. It leans waaaayyy out, then waaayyyy back in. Some of the joints are nice and square, and some look like Smidge may have put them in.
Laura, ohhhh, I'd love to see the pictures! Maybe the paint wouldn't be too bad. Especially since there won't be anybody coming after us who might have to try to get it off?
Shannon, did you ever show us pics of the fireplace before and after? I can't picture it. (But I'd love to!)
Rebel, how sweet! The swirly brick was pretty hot stuff in this area back in the early 70's. The folks who built the house really did do it up nice at the time. :-)
Thanks for all the insights and suggestions, guys. This is fun, and I truly appreciate it.
Dy
What about some glossy black trim? Aren't some of those bricks black? The shutters do take up a lot of area so that you could make them more of a focal point, along with the triangle piece under the porch eaves (Sorry. Don't know what that's called.) What if Zorak built up some higher flower beds along the front for some bushes/ flowers which would take up more space and draw the eye even more from the brick. (Hee hee, I love volunteering other people for work.) If this all sounds stupid, just count it as the one loony opinion you were bound to get by asking questions. ;o)
We have an even orange-r brick on our house. And you know what? It is really OK. When you do some slate blue (more blue than gray though) trim, it will look really really good. The trim color you have on it now is really making it look worse than it is. Also, landscaping will make a big difference. My point is this: don't worry about it. You will get the important stuff done, and the brick will look fine. Also, if it is your "forever house", who cares as much? But I'm telling you, we have brick both inside and out and I hated it when we moved in and vowed that this would be changed, but the paint made a tremendous amount of difference--inside and out--and I actually *like* the brick now. Not love, but *like*, as in, not only is it better than a remodel, but it's OK on its own merits.
Slate blue outside. Or a really nice terra cotta, from Devine paint. But blue is the best. Just ask your color wheel.
One other thing to remember: once you paint it or stucco it, you are inviting continued maintenance. Forever. Every 3-5 years. The chief charm of brick is that it lives on in perpetutity. Oh yeah, there are people who will sell you sealants and all that, but really, they just keep going and going and going....without a lot of maintenance at all.
I grew up around brick, and it was definitely only availble in "better houses"--po' folk lived in wood houses. I had to make the adjustment to wood-siding-as-a-good-thing when we moved to the Northwest--and it really is a good thing, because we are in earthquake country here. People who have brick or stucco houses have *constant* repair to cracks and worse...and the house insurance for brick is a lot higher than for wood frame, which flexes with the earthquake. Stucco houses are all the rage here, but they look stupid (stucco in a rainy area???) to start with and they look worse over time, with cracks and mildew.
And I have a deep-seated affinity for having a house stay "in its time"--because I have looked at too many houses that were trying to pretend they were not fifty years old, and it is as bad as a 50 year old woman (um, that would be me) wearing clothes meant for teenyboppers. KWIM? Let the house be what it is, and help it find its color key.
Ramble ramble.
DH got a new truck today, so I am officially a Truck Widow, what with all the tarting up that has to take place now. Of truck, not me.
I couldn't quite see what the problem was until I clicked on your close up. I was six in 1971, so I've mercifully forgotten a lot of the hideous decorating trends (though harvest yellow appliances, doors made of beads, and green shag carpeting still haunt me), but that is The Poster Brick for the 70's! Wow!
From a distance, though, it is really not unattractive. I like your idea of the slate trim. I think Zorak's orange would blend too much. As others have said, some nice shrubs, maybe a large trellis with a flowering vine, would be nice (though you don't want to put too much into landscaping that will get stomped and tromped when you stucco or stone over the brick). It looks like a welcoming house, despite the funky brick.
Me no see what fuss is about. Brick good. Leave brick alone. Be glad you no live in pink house.
Good night, Dy, I don't know!!! I mean I guess if you're going to take it off, (Which....how do you do that anyway, unless it's just a brick facing??? I am totally clueless w/ this stuff) paint it. Just paint it something that goes w/ the shingles, unless those are all being replaced as well. And I think that I agree w/ Patty in that the beds and landscaping will probably give you alot of what you're looking for. I actually really like it, and I don't think that it looks weird or out of place, or anything like that. It looks welcoming and homey. But, then.....my house has vinyl siding! (Hey-can you cover the brick w/ siding??)
Dy, I hate brick, too. But dh's grandparents chose an even uglier color of brick when they built their new house 11 years ago. It's various shades of grey. Grandma loves it.
I wonder if you could do the stucco right over top of the brick? I don't see why not, but then I don't know anything:o) I'll have to ask dh.
Jenni, we'd thought about that, but the walls are so poorly done, I'd be afraid to. They curve and lean and then leap back into line. There's not a plumb wall anywhere on the thing. I think the term for this kind of masonry is "a hog wall", meaning it's good only for slop.
Zorak and I talked last night, and it looks like we're going to go w/ paint. Laura posted an absolutely *gorgeous* painted brick home. Wow. Ours wouldn't probably look like that (what with the lack of architectural detail and such, lol), but I think we could...
...now we've got to agree on a paint color! :-S
Dy
Dy - i dont know if i ever took a pic of the white fireplace - that was 3 houses ago :-) Maybe if i wander through the photo books........
I agree, go with paint! My best friend's parents live in a gorgeous red brick mansion and they just painted the entire thing an off-white a couple of years ago. WOW!! Talk about beautiful! I bet paint would look awesome on your house too.
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