I love painted brick. We have two walls of it in our sunroom addition (used to be the exterior of the house) and it looks great. So I'd definitely try painting it first and see if you like it. You can always drywall over it if you don't. But you aren't limited to white, you know, if you want a different color. Ivory, putty, taupe can all look great on a brick wall.

Paint it to match other walls or contrast colour as feature wall. Have painted some ugly brickwork around a fire place in my home using an acrylic gloss. The colour is full strength lexicon white, like the woodwork in my home, the walls are satin finish half strength lexicon white. I am really pleased with the subtle feature of the glossy painted brick wall.

Why not make a feature of it? You could paint the larger bricks (one colour or if you know you will probably change it in a few years go multi coloured or multiple shades of one colour) to make the old door into a statement and conversation starter about the history of the house. We are building red brick and limestone from scratch. You can have a look at our place at www.littlehouse18.wordpress.com if you are interested.

Appreciate the feedback guys! Decided to complete the render on the brick walls and ended up getting rid of the brick rangehood (seen on the left hand side of the previous photo). This allowed more light into the dark kitchen. Painting the cupboard doors has also lightened up the space. The kitchen feels light and breezy now... though it's not completely finished, as we still have more painting and rendering to do, including the additional cabinetry and a rangehood to install. Because of the festive season, we decided to put the project on hold; putting the doors back on for Christmas lunch. Future plans include installing cabinetry (below) - where the plant is -which will house the stovetop, and also cabinetry above where the brick can be seen (top LHS). We'll install a rangehood above the stove top and cut a whole in the cabinetry (on the RHS) for the fridge. Where the fridge was previously, we'll put up a wall which will hold wooden shelves for tea, coffee, mugs etc.