Hi Neryl, Thanks for asking - I painted it and I just love it. As the staircase is in the middle of the house, painting the walls white has made it much brighter and the large colorful painting looks great. The very large gaudy gold framed mirror has had a makeover as well and looks fab also painted white. I notice I put this post up 2 years ago and since then, thanks to Houzz for all the great inspiration, the renovations have been fairly intense - new kitchen, walk in pantry, 2 new bathrooms, laundry, kitchenette, new roof, solar system, walk in robe, 5 renovated bedrooms, polished floors, fully airconditioned, restored cottage which is now my she shed, landscaping etc. etc. Am now broke but happy.

We have a similar problem in that we really don't like our brickwork in our 1980 built home and have the dark brown window frames. Some people just can't understand why we dislike the bricks and I thought they may grow on me. After 4 years I still can't stand them and can't wait until we can afford to render. If we had a small area like yours I would have got it done long ago. Ours is huge. Don't be tempted to bag the walls. I've seen some shockers, usually people trying to do a cheap 'flip'. As for the windows, my uncle who is a painter & decorator said that as long as the frames are cleaned well they are OK to paint conventionally. The channels will be tricky, but ours need new felts etc. anyway.

Here are the samples, although the camera doesn't really show the colour in it's true form. First up, Ball & Twine. And this is Warm Bisque. It was nice, but too cool for me. And this is Sisal, the wrong colour I bought by accident. I love the colour though, just not here. I am a little concerned that the Ball & Twine was throwing some green (although I love green), but I really love it in the rest of the house. We have those late 1990’s terracotta coloured tiles in the back room to consider as well. that room will have a terracotta, stone, charcoal look, I think, when we are done. Anyway, comments on the samples?

Hi Rekiah, we investigated partial stone facades when we were building, and my advice is do not skimp on the quality and get someone experienced to install. This does mean it may not be as inexpensive as some other options, however. Aesthetics are such a personal thing. I, like CP, and as much as I like the look in general, would update other areas first. I’d also be very careful regarding the colour and maybe look at alternative patterning. Search in Houzz photos: red brick and stonework, filter for exteriors. I also found searching the house sale sites, extremely time consuming, but useful. Imports to compare oranges with oranges though, and not oranges with my ideal 🙂. Good luck and do let us know what you decided