Brick: to paint or not to paint

Y'all I'm so excited to be writing my very first blog post!

One of my favorite features of our home when we purchased it was a huge beautiful brick wall and fireplace! It was amazing, so much detail and texture! So much character! So much potential! Isn't it beautiful? It makes my heart flutter just thinking about it.

While I loved it, I also have an obsession with painting everything. (Maybe I'd been watching too much Fixer Upper) So 85% of the time, if it can be painted, it will be painted. Also, since we're slowly transitioning to an Industrial Farmhouse style, it only made sense to me to make the change. So naturally, I took a poll! ...And guess what? No one agreed with me! Some crap about resale value, original design, yada yada.... Yeah I ignored everyone and went with my gut. 

I knew I wanted somewhat of a distressed look, and figured the best way to go about it was to just start and see how it goes. In hindsight, my planning skills aren't always on point but I was too eager to think about things like 'having a plan'. So I just got myself a can of masonry paint and had at it. I knew the brick would tear up whatever brush I was using so I got a couple of the cheap brushes from The Home Depot. 

Also did you notice that curious panel above the fireplace? Well turns out it used to be a mirror, but the previous owners painted it. There was no removing it, seriously it was built into the brick! So what's a girl to do... paint it again! This time with chalk paint so now I can script beautiful designs up there. I had grand ideas about changing out the chalkboard design for each season, but yeah hasn't happened yet...

I was really liking how it was changing the entire vibe on the wall. I put more paint in some areas and less in others. There wasn't any rhyme or reason to it. (Hey, see, I couldn't even change out the chalkboard to take the next picture...) This one wall took an entire gallon of paint, the brick soaks it up like a sponge. 

It took the better part of a single day to finish, it wasn't bad. And WOW what a difference! I still think I want to go back and add in more paint to get less of the distressed look. I'm not too worried about resale value as we have no plans to leave this house. There's still plenty to do, paint the opposite walls and get the mantle decorated, but I'm happy with it. It's just so much brighter and happier in there. 

So what do you think? Did I make the right decision to paint? Let me know in the comments below!

Psalm 100:4 "Enter His gates with Thanksgiving and His courts with praise; Give thanks to him and praise His name."