Red Brick Fireplaces—Some Options

People either love or hate red brick or used brick fireplaces; there seems to be no middle ground.  People see painting brick much the way they see painting natural wood trim; and feel it a sacrilege to paint it.  I find it fascinating that some people who don’t like brick fireplaces, but do not want to paint it either, which is a problem for a designer.  I regard painting brick in the same way I regard painting furniture: if you do not like a piece the way it is, and it is not valuable as an antique, why not paint it and make it into something I will enjoy?

I was asked recently what to do with a red brick fireplace that the family did not like.  I suggested something that I had seen done more than 20 years ago in a home in the San Fernando Valley: smear coating it with joint compound.  The homeowners could use as much of the compound to cover the red or used brick as they were comfortable using and still be able to wipe away some if they felt it was too much, giving the fireplace an old world or cottage look.

Today, on design shows you may have seen the use of the German Schemer technique used, which is based on the same process.  Outside, this process would use a mortar mix, but the effect would be the same: wipe on, wipe off to the desired effect, but doing it more quickly as mortar sets up far faster and more permanently than joint compound.  

I like the joint compound smear because you can try it out and wash it off, if done soon enough and restore your red brick is you do not like the effect.  Painting brick is mostly a permanent process.  To remove the paint, you would need to sand blast it off, and that is a mess of a serious magnitude; if you think living with drywall dust is a mess, just try living with brick dust!

There are a multitude of other surfaces you can apply over your brick if you do not like the brick and do not want to paint it.  You can apply drywall to the brick and paint the dry wall for a more modern look.  You can use metals for an interesting change, think of copper or reclaimed wood and a metal mantle.  Adding natural stone or tile will require a much larger budget than joint compound or paint.

The application of a smear technique will give your home a more cottage look and may be easier on the eye than solid red brick.  One of the problems I hear from people is how to decorate around so much red.  A fireplace is usually a focal point in a room and therefore will have a dramatic design impact.  I find that the liberal use of a cool color will help tame the red, inside or outside.  Outside, adding black trim or shutters.  Inside, adding black accents to a red brick backsplash was the answer to my friend’s kitchen dilemma.  Using a charcoal or blue-gray color on the trim outside is another good way to tame the abundance of too much red on a house.

I happen to love the look of brick in New England, where we can see row after row of beautiful, architecturally interesting houses on tree lined streets.  However, these houses have a historic appeal and do not look as harsh as some newer red brick out West.  Besides, if you look carefully at New England houses, they have a lot of black and white accents to compensate for all the red in the brick.  I like correcting color with color; remember it is proportion that the makes the difference in many cases.

Commitment Problem

Everyone has a problem with commitment at some time or another whether it be personal, financial, family, or design.  Design commitments will have far less impact, hopefully, than family issues or employment decisions,  but hesitance to make design commitments seem to result in people doing nothing rather than something or anything, when it comes to changes in their home.

I, too, have commitment problems with some design challenges.  My solution is to find an option that will give me more choices.  The most recent dilemma I faced was what to do about the inside of my upper cabinets in the kitchen.  The doors on the upper cabinets are glass and therefore expose my dishware, which is white; with the interiors painted white, there was no contrast and hardly made an impact.  A few weeks ago, I emptied the upper cabinets of all the dishes and glassware on both sides and painted just the back wall of each of the upper cabinets the color of the kitchen walls: a soft sage green.  While I liked the change, it was barely noticeable.  At least that exercise forced me clean all the glass shelves, and the new color did give it a fresh look.

Still not satisfied with the lack of impact in those cabinets, I had toyed with the idea of painting the backs of the cabinets black—yep, black.  I can imagine what many of my readers may be thinking, “Is she painting the entire house black”?  I do like a bit of drama in design.  The kitchen is one of my favorite places, and I thought the introduction of a little more black would give me the impact I wanted.  Painting the backs of the cabinets is not an “in your face” dramatic change; it is more subtle.  In fact, people hardly notice it; but I do, which is the point.

As for the lack of commitment, I decided to use black foam board cut to size before painting the cabinets and then painting over the black if I did not like it.  I have suggested to clients over the years that to add a little color in bookcases or glass fronted cabinets, first use foam board painted the color they want, to see if they liked it, before painting the back of an entire bookcase.  This option also allows for seasonal changes for displays for Easter, Halloween and Christmas.

I will confess that painting would have been cheaper and take less time than I spent on cutting foam board and going back to the office supply store for more material.  I was pretty sure I was going to like the black, but thought I would give the foam board a try.  I am glad I did.  I like the smooth texture as opposed to the less than perfect plaster walls behind my cabinets dating back to 1938, and all the things that have been done to these cabinets over the years

I still have some black paint plans for my home.  They too will be subtle, but will make an impact.  If you have considered taking an old entertainment unit or bookcase, and using it as a room divider or as a display area for some of your collections, you might consider removing the back of the cabinet and painting it a bright accent color that you are using elsewhere in the room.  Painting an old cabinet or dresser that you are re-purposing, is a win-win project, with little to lose and a good exercise in trying something new.  Try it, you might like it.

Spalted Maple Artwork

The wonders of nature never cease to amaze me.  On our trip to the wine country last month, my daughter and I visited a gallery and were mesmerized by some of the collections; but what captivated us and held our attention was the spalted maple turned to art.

The gallery representative was anxious to tell us that spalted wood is caused by a fungus that occurs primarily in dead trees, and the artist is careful to use only felled trees. 

Spalted wood is divided into three types: pigmentation, white rot and zone lines.  The artwork that my daughter bought is zone line spalting, which is characterized by thin lines of black surrounding heavy, black, irregular spots that appear very hard, almost like stone, called dark mycelium.  While all this is somewhat technical, the effect on the wood is simply beautiful, almost like thin ink lines shakily drawn around the heavy black spots.  In the gallery exhibit, the wood was cut into unevenly sliced slats and mounted on thin strips of wood to hold the piece together.  

My daughter bought the two pieces that were in the gallery to place over her bed’s headboard.  I suggested we paint a solid rectangle on the wall a very dark color to form a frame and place the work inside, the rectangle, of course, being larger than the two pieces together.  We did that, but once the art was up on the wall, it seemed too flat.  My daughter wanted more color, so we repainted the rectangle right over the original color, but without care to cover the sharp lines completely, while staying within the original shape.  She thought she would like to add a frame of molding to the painted on wall and paint it the same color, for texture.  Then she decided the irregular color on top of the dark color was interesting and she would leave it for the time being.

Artwork, of course, is a matter of very personal choice; fortunately we share similar tastes.  Her room is coming together nicely and I think she is beginning to feel it is just about right.

If you look up spalted wood on the Internet, you will see some amazing pieces of art, that are not only beautiful but useful too.  Spalted wood is used for musical instruments, bowls, tables and cabinets.  Some of the images show inlays of turquoise and metals.  Artists find uses for this wood in jewelry and furniture; their creativity seems endless.  Please be sure to take a look, next time you are at your computer, I think you will be amazed at this oddity of nature.

Something Old Is New Again

After the excitement of Christmas and the clean-up aftermath, I set a new goal for myself:  to rid the living room of boxes of books that thus far have had nowhere to go. I had wanted to get a bookcase for the area the boxes occupied, but it would have to be low enough to allow in the lovely light from the window above.  A low bookcase would not be sufficient for the many boxes of books.  

The space where the boxes were stacked for the past six months is right beside the fireplace—a pretty prominent feature in the room— and the boxes were not at all attractive.  I have selected a place for tall bookcases— which will solve the book problem—but that is another story.

For more than four decades, I have had a cabinet always used just to fill space in our home.  It is an old Magnavox Hi-Fi cabinet that I gutted years ago to make it easier for me to move around.  It is a very traditional mahogany piece and has seen better days since it first came to us.  After our move, I decided it might be more appealing if it were painted.  It certainly was not valuable as an original cabinet with its insides removed.  It had some battle scars from early use as a stand for a small portable TV. Paint seemed to be in order.

I had considered a black and gray combination, or a turquoise; turquoise won.  At first, it seemed too bright and lacking in depth, so I added some antique glazing; that was better.  Still not sure before Christmas what to do with it, I first put it in the spare room and let the holidays occupy me.

Come the new year, my daughter suggested I try using the old, painted the cabinet in the space beside the fireplace until I found something better; it certainly would fit.   I decided that the cabinetwould allow “Sophie” the cat, a more stable place in the sun to view the dogs next door; the boxes of books were sinking under her weight!  It also would add a bit of color in a room that already has a lot of wood furnishings.

I was not thrilled with the cabinet even after the paint; it just was not something I thought I would use again, but using it under the window was a good idea, so why not give it a chance.  Just when I thought I would kick it to the curb and see who might pick it up, it was spared that humiliation and has a place in our home once again.

The moral of this story is not to give up on a piece just because it is old and worn.  Paint can revive just about anything and bring new life to an old piece.  Who knows? It looks good enough to stand the test of time for another few decades.

To Paint or Not to Paint

For many of us, painting natural wood is considered either difficult or forbidden; these views are understandable and have been handed down for generations.  In the past, people did not paint furniture of good quality and workmanship; it took valuable time and resources to do so; in Victorian times, it simply wasn’t done.  As furnishing were passed down, they may have been revered as family treasures, and to paint them would be to dishonor them.  As these pieces were passed down further, such feelings became less important and more distant; and painting was more acceptable and in vogue.

Not much has changed today.  Pieces that hold fond memories from a favorite aunt or grandmother still may be left untouched.  However, if you have such a piece, have grown tired of it, but still can’t part with it, and know that the next generation is not interested in it, why not consider giving it new life and paint it?

Painting often is dismissed as a solution because it is considered time consuming and difficult; thoughts of stripping the piece are shunned.  It is true that painting is time consuming, but painting is not so difficult; taken step by step, it is really quite easy.  If you consider it boring, plug in a book or your favorite music on your CD player; being entertained while doing a task you have been putting off, makes it enjoyable and a new hobby might be born.

Once a piece has reached the end of its life cycle for me, I think first of reusing it in another way or place in my home or yard; doing so usually involves recovering the fabric portion or painting the piece, sometimes removing or adding ornamentation.  If  I can’t reuse the piece, I offer it to a family member; if there are no takers, I move down the line, friends, associates and charities.

I remember my mother-in-law telling me how exciting it was when painting furniture was in vogue.  Living with furniture from previous generations was oppressive; such furniture often was dark and dated, and the freedom to paint it gave the family a lift, like coming out of a depression.

The pendulum swings back and forth in both fashion and interior design.  We experience it daily in print and television shows, as we see what was old is new again.  Take, for example, the renewed interest in Mid-Century Modern and the juxtaposition of a Victorian piece, or the mod-textile prints popular in the 1970’s, placed in a more contemporary setting.  In some cases, a little paint and color can go a long way.  Today there is a plethora of colors as opposed to what was available a few decades ago.