Brick: White vs. Red

As Britney Spears sings, "there are two kinds of people in this world," and I carry on to say that there are those who love exposed brick and the others who love painted brick. I don’t think there are too many people sitting on the fence in the middle of these opposing opinions.

When I walk into an apartment with dark red brick walls, much to the shock of some people, the first thing I want to do is get a bucket of white paint and start the white washing. I do however appreciate why people love the rich look of brick and never ever push the issue too hard, but it’s just not for me. This is coming from a person who also does not particulary gravitate toward fall colors, so it should not be that shocking.

I did, however, recently convince some clients to sheet rock over the brick walls of their rather dark apartment so that we could get some reflective white surfaces. Instead of painting the brick, we chose to sheet rock over the wall so as to maintain the original glory of the brick behind the drywall. (I am very conscious of the procedure and cost of taking paint off a brick wall–it’s not an easy job). This way, if the subsequent owners of the loft are pining for the brick, all they need to do is remove the drywall and voila.

The apartment looks bright, happy, and cheery and the clients are as happy as I am with the result. This is actually the second time I have been able to make this transformation happen. The first time was with my clients, (now friends and clients combined) Phoebe and David. Their apartment had the potential to look like a bright, white-washed industrial loft, but the dull red walls and all their color saturated furniture cast a somber mood. The transformation to a beautiful, clean box was remarkable, fresh, and appealing.