I loved my red brick fireplace for many, many years but it "ruled" when any re-decorating was done. I had to work every change around it. Finally, when I changed the entire character of the room from "colorful/ homey" to " comfortable/elegant" the natural brick ruined the look. Shopping for a new fireplace caused sticker-shock. I tool the plunge and painted the fireplace to match the walls and "voila" the room came together. However, I could never paint the brick on the outside of the house as many do.