Creating A Beautiful Home

Using Brick To Enhance Your Home's Design

by Serenity Harris

Brick is one of the oldest known building materials--it dates back to 7,000 BC, when bricks were made out of sun-dried mud. Today, brick is generally made out of fired clay, which is not only weather resistant and fire-proof, but also has a life expectancy of hundreds of years. Because of its durability, many homeowners opt to use brick in their home's construction. However, it's not only useful as a home exterior. From walkways and fireplaces to floors and backslashes, brick can bring a unique element to your home's design, while introducing some new, long-lasting decor.

Read on for several outside-the-box ideas on using brick to enhance your home's look:

Make A Statement Wall

Whether your home is old-fashioned and traditional or contemporary country, a brick accent wall can bring warmth and texture to a space, while also defining different areas of an open floor plan. Using brick for all the walls of a home can quickly become overwhelming, but incorporating it sparingly can punch up a space's visual appeal and make it more of an artistic statement, rather than simply a construction choice.

Add Visual Interest To Your Indoor Floor

Wood, carpet, linoleum, tile--all are common materials used for flooring inside a home, but brick is generally reserved for outside spaces. Using brick as your indoor flooring of choice is not only unique, but it gives you a strong and practically maintenance free surface. Because of brick's versatility in color, style, size, and more, you can customize almost any brick floor to complement your current home's design.

Spruce Up Your Walkways

With a bit of work and a little know-how, almost anyone can use bricks to add stepping stones to their garden, lay a walkway, or border their existing sidewalk. Brick pavers will not only protect your and your visitors' feet on those wet days, but they'll also add style to your home. Consider placing several bricks together embedded in the ground at various intervals to create unique stepping stones or laying brick over that dirt path to establish a firm footpath.

Update Your Existing Brick

If you aren't feeling up to adding more brick to your home's design, you can instead update your home's existing brick to give it a new look.

  • Staining - Brick stain can be found at most home improvement stores and uses dye to penetrate the brick surface and alter its color.
  • Painting - Using paint to color your brick can give you a wider variety of color options to choose from than staining. However, you should evaluate the quality of your brick before painting. Paint will seal off brick's natural pores, so if the brick is already chipping or otherwise deteriorating, painting it may only temporarily solve the problem.
  • Finishing - If you're tired of your brick's current finish, there are numerous sealants you can apply to alter its look--from high-gloss to matte and from smooth to textured.

To learn more, contact professionals like Michael Bellantoni with your questions and concerns.

Share