Two possibilities come to mind: a mid-tone grey to pick up colors from the hearth tile, or a darker shade of the color used on your walls. I’d paint first and tile only as a fallback option if the paint doesn’t achieve what you’d hoped.

Congratulations! Looks so charming.

I can’t advise on tile over brick, but if it can be done, I’d go with a blue/green tile ... and add Craftsman details. It’d look fabulous, and perfectly fine for them not to match the hearth exactly.

You could do an interesting design, make it your own — lots of places sell Craftsman/Arts and Crafts tile. It would be fun to do some research on 1920 tiles specifically.

There are many sources, for example:

https://artsandcraftshomes.com/kitchens-and-bathrooms/sources-for-arts-crafts-tile

ETA: Funny, this article came up when I was looking up tiles:

https://www.thisoldhouse.com/fireplaces/21193408/tiling-over-a-brick-fireplace

But I have no experience with this, hopefully someone who does will chime in.

I somehow suspect it WAS tiled before, especially seeing how the hearth has tiles in front of it..and then somebody later put bricks over/instead of tiles...for a reason that I can't guess..

Tiles would be much more period appropriate, agree with Jinx. So many great ones.

Beautiful home. I hope someone can advise about how to approach the tiling possibility, in a practical way.

Otherwise, you can paint too, either shade of colors of the heath tile maybe, or color of your walls, it's still a beautiful home, as much as I think "oh why did they do that brick"

I vote for teh pretty tile. But, you can also you can stain the brick...worth a try before painting...dyebrick.com. We used it in another house. Worked great.

Paint the brick white and keep the hearth as is-that is what's really irreplaceable

But paint the back walls of the bookcase inserts a pretty color!

Or wallpaper them!

I wanted to share this about brick ... really curious what the original color of yours was. I can’t believe someone painted it.

https://artsandcraftshomes.com/interiors/historic-patterns-fireplace-surrounds

Is there brick anywhere else, maybe on the exterior? Chimney? It might be worth trying to remove that horrid paint, if you’d like it to be more original. I would not paint it again.

Thanks everyone. I do love the tile idea it's just a much, much bigger project. maybe I paint it for now because it's easy and and tackle the tiling down the line.

I also loathe painted brick but I think its original brick color is the ugly limestone brick judging by the fireplace interior brick. It's likely that it was originally brick because there's another house on the block just like ours and their fireplace is the same, and so is the fireplace in our basement.

@jholmesct the built ins currently have a very subtle wallpaper. I want to do something more bold like you pictured if I paint them white. What I do with the fireplace will determine what I do with the shelves.

the original color is most likely this brick that's on most of our exterior

I love that old brick, how sad that someone glopped paint over it.

Interesting. Thank you so much, Jinx, for that link, and Sarah, for showing the exterior, I always learn tons here. I'm still puzzled though by tile next to the hearth. Thinking why they used two different materials.

Great crafstmanship, in any case. I feel like most nowaday houses-won't stand the test of time, and won't be there for anyone to love and try to decipher..

April, I always learn, too! Love these kinds of threads. :)

My great-grandparents had a 1922 Craftsman (it’s on the register), so I’ve been researching them in my area. It’s one of my favorite styles of houses, so charming!

ETA: I’ve been trying to find the exact name for Sarah’s brick. So many homes in my town have it. I keep seeing different terms — grooved, vertical score, scratch face, etc. I can’t determine if any or all of those are it!

April--I've been in many, many houses from that era. Many have brick fireplaces with tile hearths. I suspect it has to do with cost. Many of these bungalows were the homes of working people. The tile hearth was a decorative element and easier to use on a floor.

Oh, goodness, love the windows and built-in! Wow, just beautiful. So glad no one ever painted that built-in!

I’m sorry to say in my town, despite having a Preservation Committee, old bungalows are being “grayed out” at an alarming rate. Gray painted brick (exterior), and everything blinding white and light gray inside, with original fireplaces being torn out and Modern Farmhoused. It’s flippers buying them up and doing this.

I know exactly what you're talking about when you say grayed out. I'm thankful the homes that are renovated on my block seem to have retained character and left the brick original.

I love the natural wood tones. all of the trim was painted white at some point, but thankfully they didn't touch the built in. I'm getting a new dining room table because my current table doesn't go with the wood tone in the built in... going out of my way not to paint it. it's in such good shape!

I wonder if I could find a complimentary tile to the hearth tile and do that over the brick. my bathroom has an arabesque tile in the shower alcove that would be complimentary and I could try to find something similar.

PS it drives me NUTS how whoever tiled this shower just left the ceramic tile edges of the alcove exposed like that

I think you could find a tile that is complimentary to your hearth. Take your time until you find the perfect tile.

And yes, it's kind of sad how many of these old beauties are being grayed out. I'm even seeing it in 100 year old houses in the largest city closest to me. I saw one for sale online in my town today. Original molding all painted white; wall removed between dining room and living room, and recessed lights added. They made a big deal about the original wood floors in the ad.

You're lucky your's still has the charm and those beautiful windows and built-in.

rrah, yes, that was what I thought might be one of the reasons-trying to save on costs. . and yes, it's so nice to see the house that wasn't majorly remuddled into something that it's not

Sarah I do think you can find something complimentary .it's indeed gorgeous tile you have there. If I find something specific that might work , I'll post a link to it

meanwhile, the big list of possible sources: https://artsandcraftshomes.com/kitchens-and-bathrooms/sources-for-arts-crafts-tile

https://prattandlarson.com/colors/glazes/craftsman-matte/ 

I'm looking at C216..too indigo, yours has more green in it? a bit hard to see

their waterolors are great, but they're crackle..I'm not sure whether can be used on the fireplace surround?..

that does look pretty close it's so hard to tell online though I'd need samples no doubt.

here's a couple close ups

@Sarah Lessner oh I just took another peek and see the wallpaper - great minds think alike. I'm STILL team painted brick :)

...here's why...if you sell and someone wants to go back to the original layer, it's way easier to blast off the paint. I love 2021 looks but I'm a old preservationist at heart!

Would not tile over it. If dislike the brown, perhaps paint it black.

yup - paint white or black....

black could look cool I like that more matte finish.

Love your house, Sarah! Paint is a great option while you decide if you’d like to tackle the bigger project of tiling the fireplace. If you haven’t yet, head over to Modern Bungalow (U Hills; Yale & Colo Blvd). They carry Terra Firma tiles, as well as a couple of other lines, and have samples on site. The store is a great source of inspiration! https://terrafirmaarttile.com

Thanks Laura Im near Colorado and Colfax so that's not too far I'll have to check it out!

It probably was stained at some point, the whole wall, and whoever painted the brick didn't like the contrast, and tried to replicate wood stain. I can see the lighter brick inside, just a little bit, on the close up...

(it's funny how one continues to think about when and why, lol)

So, I think one can paint..or to try to remove the paint-no idea how hard the process is? painting is probably simpler..

ideally I'd jump on opportunity of tile, because I love tiles so much, and here, I'd have my justification..but it's the most expensive road, of course.

We here also have a store that is like Mecca for great tiles. I'm happy you got suggestion about a store close to you, go there even if you ultimately decide to paint.. or sandblast.. or do nothing-these places with great tile are the best, and during our big remodel, only they kept me saner. (ah, and Pirch when they make great coffee-or you can also choose a glass of wine))

Took a while to get around to it, but we finally followed through on painting it white. It was pretty easy. I still wish that no one had ever painted it but oh well, it's a huge improvement over the ugly brown paint.

Eventually, I want to do a fresh coat of paint for the surrounding built-ins so that the white is the same, and do a rich dark teal or navy colored wallpaper at the back of the shelves for more contrast.

So glad you picked white paint!