apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I used benjamin moore coral spice - I have a somewhat dark apartment, and it brightened it up. I love it.

My old brownstone apartment had exposed brick throughout, the main centerpiece was a floor-to-ceiling brick fireplace in the livingroom. I chose a buttery yellow, and it looked fabulous. I paired with green furniture and red accents.

However, the bedroom had a whole wall of exposed brick, and I went with a beige, but it just didn't POP like the yellow did.

I like Bitter Chocolate, by Glidden, available at Home Depot--goes great with a chalky red!

Ooop...sorry, not Glidden--Behr! Looks great with pinks too!

We like the look of exposed brick and would like to create an accent wall in our living room. The following website lists a faux finish product... http://www.advancedrock.net/OldBrick.asp?

Has anyone used this? Can you also share other products to get the exposed brick look.

Thanks,
JD

I second the buttery yellow. I have it in my living room and it looks fantastic. I have a sort of Tiffany-blue in another room with exposed brick, and the contrast is still decent, but not as great as with the yellow. Good luck.

You have other options if you don't like the color of your brick wall. Although I loved my exposed brick wall, the deep brick red color was too much for my wall color of choice, a light grey blue. Because I wanted to preserve the brick wall and not just paint over it (which I think is hideously ugly), what I ended up doing is watering down white paint until it was a very think consisteny, sponging it on the brick and then wiping it off almost immediately. What resulted was a pretty, dusty-rose like color that looked very natural and lightened up the room immensely.

Just my .02

French Black (the black with lots of green) gets my vote.

I'm not sure my link will work here (preview would be helpful..), but one possible color scheme is clickable@ my signature.
The principle: pick up one of the lightest tones present in brick, wash it up much more, and select 2 more colors-1 darker color present in the brick but from the middle of the colorway, value-wise and 1 contrast, for accent.
In my example,the lightest warm grey for the walls comes from the streaks present in sanded brick wall. The terracota-red of the accent wall is lighter version of another color present in brick. And the blue of the stair railing is the contrast color.

(A note: there is always certain amount of color distortion in photographs vs. actual pigment on the surface)

Oh, I see the red isn't showing in my example above.
I have included it here.

Do you want the brick to be a starring element? I'd be tempted to paint the fireplace wall in one of the tones in the brick, then do the other walls in a contrasting off-white or buttery yellow.

Another scheme-analogous, when colors sit next to each other on a color wheel; in this case-orange-red of the brick, warm yellow on the wall next to it and the red on the partition behind cabinets, to create a focal wall in the kitchen.

I have a living/dining with a brick wall, there has been some historical fire damage in the building so the brick color tone varies. I just painted the walls Benjamin More Chestertown Buff, a beige/yellow mustard color, turned out really nice.

My new apartment is a duplex in a brownstone- total sq footage is about 750 so it is not a huge space. The whole wall is brick with a fireplace in the living room. I want somthing that will go well. I do not love yellow even though the colors do go well. Any other sugestions? Thanks

Jamie, what do you think of very, very pale aqua or blue turquoise? Would it go with your furniture?

Jamie, how do you want the room to feel? The right color scheme depends on the mood.

Okay, here's a cheat. Scrapbook papers come color-coordinated, usually in "in" (readily available) colors. Take a look at the "rooms" on this site that emphasizes being relatively chic. There are four or five color schemes that include a pink or red that might appear in your brick, and they have completely different feels. This may help you narrow down your options.
http://www.chatterboxinc.com/chatterbox2.asp

My favorite answer for any question starting "What color should I..." is always "That depends."

On the answers to...

Day time or night time space? Hate the brick and want to downplay it, love it and want it to star? Modern space or traditional? Lots of light or not so much? Dark floors or light? Serious or playful? Masculine or feminine? Understated or dramatic?

I think this is quite funny -- we have an entire exposed brick wall in our place and we're plastering it over. We're over brick.

That said, we chose a warm taupe-ish color that was close to the grout color in our brick wall. Matching the grout color allows the other walls to complement, not compete with, the brick.

I love the look of an apple-green kind of color against brick. Then you can take the rest of the color scheme anywhere you like---lots of browns look good, as do creams, but you can also throw in reds of a certain shade as well. See the post from today from that Paris hotel---the lobby has a lovely color scheme going that could definitely be adapted to work with brick.

I agree with P2 that it completely depends on what look or mood you are trying to achieve. I have a traditional brick fireplace and first painted the adjacent wall a light buttercup / cream. It was nice albeit not very dramatic in an otherwise white apartment. I have since repainted it a warm gray to match the mortar and like it much better. The gray also seems to parallel my demeanor which is not always sunshine and buttercups. Good luck!

How much natural light does your space get? If only get a small amount, you might want something brighter on your walls... check out my place from last year's smallest, coolest contest.

hey can someone tell me how to view last years smallest coolest??? I want more...MORE!!!

We have a brick coordination plan - it is exterior though, so it may not work for you - but we picked two glidden colours to go with the brick: Pale Orange (17YY 65/420) as the main colour and then Deep Aubergine (13RR 06/179) as the accent colour. They're exactly what you'd think - creamy buttery yellow (with a bit more punch than just 'yellow') and a deep plummy colour. The brick has bits of both in it, and it really picks up the colour and texture of the brick...

ok ok i found it. but hey, dont all reply at once here! ;)

I usally do not love yellow for walls. I want to create a warm but modern look. It is the first floor of a brownstone. Any other color suggestions besides yellow? Thanks for all your help! This is my first time buying and I am gut renovating the apartment

here's my 2 cents -

you can find parallels in the color coordinate of nature.

the dirt is brown/reddish brown
the trees are green
the sky is blue

the space will be soothing and calm

Benjamin Moore 1527, 1528 or 1529. Wonderful smokey greenish greyish. Looks great next to brick.

thanks for all your help! Still not sure- will keep you updated what color I chose. Keep the suggestions coming!

My living area has one exposed brick wall and very high ceilings. Opposite the brick is a big custom wall unit (painted white) containing my Murphy bed.
Between these is a wall with two large windows which bring in floods of light.
It's those slivers of wall that I painted teal (Benjamin Moore 726-- rendezvous bay) which is complimented by the ceiling (Moore 723 spring rain) and separated by white molding. The woodwork is all white and the furniture is white.
I love it.
The plaster in my place is over a hundred years old and very lumpy, so I used a technique I picked up from DESIGN REMIX (HGTV). I rolled on one coat of paint, smoothed on a crumpled and ripped piece of tissue paper and then rolled another layer of paint over the paper. The effect created is an over-all "old world" look that appears intentional.
I love DESIGN REMIX!

If you want to add the brick look to an accent wall, but don't want to add anything with texture...consider just painting the bricks on.

It't easy and quick and if you ever get tired of it, just paint over.

Sage green looks great as an accent color with brick...and I just saw the most beautiful kitchen with a huge brick surround of the stove and the other walls are country blue. Pretty