yikes, this thread could get hot - (to paint brick or not is a touchy topic, I just painted the exterior of my historic brick home, not for the feint of heart) But these walls have already been painted not by you, so it is a different discussion.

I LOVE the finish on the brick, it is spectacular. But even loving it like I do --- the rest of the kitchen is so crisp and has so many wonderful details, I feel like the brick ends up being distracting. If it were me (but remember i am the devil since i paint historic brick) I would paint the walls a mellow white that jibes with the backsplash (and other hues in the room) and calm it down visually. The amazing texture will still be there, but I think it will enable the rest of the kitchen to shine in spotlight. Just my thoughts - will be curious to see what others think.

Maybe you can compromise --

The part that is distracting to me is the part of the brick that bumps up to the painted yellow walls. What if you painted that part white (like the window and door trim) and left the rest the natural brick color since it is similar to your cabinets?

I think Laura has put the issue quite well- As is it is distracting, and taking away from all the lovely elements in your newly finished kitchen.

If it were all one hue that may be a different story.

Can you continue the subways down to the counter around the sink area?

I would usually vote with the never paint brick crowd, but this brick has already been painted. If you had rustic looking cabinets I could see leaving it as is, but your kitchen looks elegant and the wall as it is detracts from that. I agree with laurainlincoln, paint the brick.

I do believe I would paint the brick-white. It's too uneven with part having been painted and part not. White would still "set it off" as separate from the plaster wall and would also be duplicating the backsplash pattern. I'm not one to paint brick but occasionally it's the better choice.

As a preservationist and an advocate for historic properties - I cannot believe I am saying this...but I agree with the camp that says to paint the brick white. In the meantime, if you need time to think it over - go with your original idea of sealing it and waiting (since, as you mentioned, you cannot go back once you paint). You have done a superb job of restoring and renovating your Boston area 1840's-1860's gem! Congratulations!

Thanks for all the responses. I was thinking of painting the brick the same color as the walls (BM HC-4 Hawthorne Yellow - which comes across a bit more yellowy in the the pictures) but I may wait on the color until after I paint the dining room (leading towards BM 2080-20 Confederate Red) which is seen thru the doorway with green walls.

jejvtr - I purposely left the brick behind the sink (the fire wall for the old stove - you can see the round vent hole on the brick wall on the left). I thought the subways mimic it nicely and painting the brick there the same color/sheen would hopefully not draw too much attention to it but blend it together. I was leaving part of the old brick floor too until there was confusion between my contractor and some workers and a lot of it was torn up. That would have been more problematic blending the new wood floor with the uneven brick.

Personally I feel DH and I are caretakers of this house (it's been here much longer than us and will probably be around for a few more hundred years) and wanted to keep as much of the originally fabric as possible. Yes, we did have to make some changes for modern living but wanted to preserve as much of the past as possible. It was difficult finding contractors and architects that had the same vision - most wanted to blow out all the inside walls instead of snaking everything thru the horsehair plaster. A few rooms went down to the studs (bathrooms to replace the pre 1870's plumbing, one hallway and the kitchen) but I wanted to keep as much as possible original.

Keep the comments coming! I'm open to suggestions.

I agree with painting the brick, but think there might be a middle ground between painting it all over and leaving it. Treating the brick so that it still looks like old, but blends in with your more refined style could be a good way to go. Some of the parts with paint have a great look, "Upscale Loft" is the best phrase I can think of to describe it.

This would require a really good technique or a good faux painter/artist to get it right, but might be worth it.

I think the main problem is the uniformity of the existing paint on the brick. In my 1890 kitchen I was able to have the original brick chimney exposed and I cleaned off all the extra mortar that was under the plaster wall. It had not even been painted as it was never meant to be exposed. If you could remove more of the paint in a random pattern it would make it look more natural and rustic and I think improve the way it blends in to the rest of the space. I love the clean brick that is showing at the edges.

If you can't then I would paint it the wall color and let the texture show up and speak to the original wall's existence. Here is a pic of what I was able to show.

I am not at all knowledgeable about historical properties or finishes. That said, I feel that if the remaining brick could be cleaned up completely (an impossible task I'm sure) then I'd do that. If not, I'd paint it. The inbetween, though lovely, just does not jive with the elegance of your kitchen.

If there were a pair of something mounted on each side of the doorway--framed art? shelves with same items on them such as books? a collection of old copper pans? even hooks with brightly colored aprons?--the walls would become a handsome backdrop instead of being the focal point.

This is an easy thing to do that you could live with for a while instead of leaping forward.

I agree with the last 4 posts.
I'd try to clean it up more and save it as brick.
If that is too hard to do, some faux painting would even it out and still keep some brick exposed.
If you can't get an area cleaned up, maybe some shelves or art would tone it down.
If the rest don't work, I'd reluctantly paint it, yet not the yellow. I'd go with the backsplash color throughout, so as not to have half the bricks in the room one color and the other half different.

Trailrunner's brick is a shining example of what could be...

I wouldn't paint it, but try to remove more of the paint. If that wasn't possible, and you don't want the brick look in the kitchen, can you just cover it with something very thin? I know there are tons of wallboards that would look nice in your kitchen, and it would preserve the brick in case you sell the house and the next owner longs for the exposed brick.
I love that look and have seen many brownstones and old historic homes in the NE who have done new kitchens in very elegant cabinetry and still left the brick. I would just try to scrape a bit more of the white off. But, it actually comes down to personal taste.

Can you have the brick sandblasted, so it all looks evenly "exposed"?

I'm in the "do not paint" camp. I absolutely love the brick as is. Like dianalo said, maybe you can hang some artwork on either side of the door to tone it down.

Hi Bostonpam,

I love the brick wall. I think maybe your kitchen needs
less texture from those brick walls. Or more consistency.
If you could afford to have it peeled back to the original
brick it would be stunning. Sandblasting is one way.
That can get pricey and risk damage to your cabinets. The
old motar and plaster may take more money than you wish
to spend to repair it.

The inexpensive thing to do would be to paint but I wonder
would painting the brick conflict with the shiny white
backsplash you have? Especially painting the brick white.
Maybe a bleached look? Or even black, brown, grey or cream.

Or you could build a wall to cover the brick except for
the top 12 inches. Leaving the top natural with only a
glaze to keep the dust way. Exposing just a hint of the
history.

Here are what others did with their brick. Maybe you
can get some ideas for your own space.
~boxerpups

Harmony Home

Meridith Baer Biscuit Building Kitchen Lofts sunfinished lightwood

Painted Brick Eclectic ktichen

Tanery Brick wall

Brick Backsplash

Main 14

Euro kitchen

Alcove with brick surround

Here is a link that might be useful: Momof3kids has brick in her PA kitchen

I have a couple of thoughts:

1. You have a really good chance in an old house that the paint contains lead. I would be really concerned about the section over the sink and would not even trust a new coat of paint to be enough in its use as a backsplash.

2. PeelAway is designed for this and works well. We took about 20 coats of paint off a brick fireplace, partly lead based paint. It was easy. With care, the rest of the room will survive intact and in my state, is approved to remove lead paint.

3. If you tile over the brick with thinset, you'll still keep the fabric of the house with a surface that can be removed later. Just my opinion, but it looks like you ran out of tile.

I like what I can see of your kitchen. Really nice color and finish combinations.

The weathered look has suddenly come back with a vengeance. You've gotten it for free.

Sometimes the contrast between tailored and rough works really well, and sometimes it doesn't. In your case, if you wanted to try keeping the brick, you might want to make sense of those blocks and blobs of color. They make no sense on their own, but you can give them structure with the right accessories--making them like the picture mat for your wall art.

All this is from RH.

DH also recommends the Peel Away to remove the existing paint. But first, you may have to find out if the paint currently on the brick is lead based. There's a test you can do for that. A paint store may have the kit to do the test. If there's lead in the paint there, it could be an expensive process-lead abatement. I really love the brick and hope it can be restored. It will really look nice with the rest of your kitchen. Good luck.

Thanks for all the good advice. Our sanding was done when this area wasn't used and completely sealed off and contained from the rest of the house. We were just going to paint it so it was sanded to get loose paint off. I would not want to sand it now as we're living in the space. Around the corner I have a marble fireplace that was painted and I was going to tackle that with chemicals. I will try the wall too (small spot) but I think our brick is very porous.

There were walls, ceiling and a radiator covering portion of the brick so that's why the funky paint job. It all went away when the kitchen was gutted. I was planning on putting things on the wall including a large clock and that may distract it a bit. This last push seems to be the hardest but it may be that I just lost my steam after a year.

Thanks boxerpups for the inspirational pictures. I exposed an internal brick wall for a fireplace (fireplace covered up with a wall - what were they thinking?!) and the inspirational pics will help me with that room too. That brick was never meant to be exposed so it's in much rougher shape than in the kitchen.

Right now I'm waiting for the gas company to rip up the street and give us an unblocked gas pipe - another never ending saga. (This is their 5th date and every one before was a no show!) Sometimes I don't have enough gas to cook with and our heater trips off or it takes the oven 2 hours to warm up. The gas company doesn't think this is too important though - waiting weeks and still not here.