Sounds like you've made a decision not to cover any of the brick. Just to answer your question - the masonry adhesive is applied to the brick surface (not the Gyprock) in blobs approx 450mm apart. It sets pretty hard so to remove it at a later time you'd probably have to chisel it off. Any residue left in the surface of the brick could be touched up with brick coloured paint. Apparently you can also use cornice adhesive. Same way of removing & hydrochloric acid would remove any residue.

Hi, I had purple suede effect on my wall. Easy to sand the texture off. Talk to your paint shop about the right colour undercoat/sealer to cover a dark colour before painting your new colour on with 2 coats.

The best way to cover dark is to use a grey tinted primer first. Talk to a paint specialist. Dulux on line may help

Thanks again everyone. I totally agree with so much of this! We hate the curtains but had to put something there while the place was tenanted. My plan so far is for very discreet blinds, if anything. There is a bench seat going in under the stairs, an art gallery up the stairs and wrought iron balustrades. We’re deepening an existing window at the top of the stairs to throw extra light down the stairwell and into the dining room. All the existing lights will go. After that, we’ll revist the paint!