Hit a brick wall, need ur help!

[Bearwithsorehead]

I've got a bare brick wall in the kitchen. But I can't tell if the colour really goes with the wood of the doors. The doors were stained with a "light oak" colour but came out wierd. Not as imagined. Should I paint the brick wall white?

Maybe chuck a white cloth over the table. That would tie it to the white of the door surround etc, and give a nice contrast to the grey chairs. If it works, you could then paint the table with some confidence.

Then a picture on the wall (maybe a grey frame to pick up the colour of the chairs, with a white mount and some strong colour in the middle).

Wonderful kitchen.

If the table was a toning shade it would all look fine. Is it an antique? With the mismatched chairs it's all a bit busy.

Assuming it's not a priceless antique, it's a great size, you could have it stripped and refinished in a more neutral finish. Or cheap approach - paint the underframe and sand the top.

Thanks everyone, some really good ideas. It's not a priceless antique, bought the table on eBay and the chairs from local junk shops. I painted some but got fed up. It takes ages yawn. You've given me an idea, something I saw on Alan Carr design masters - someone covered a brick wall with fabric and I could easily staple some ikea white cotton panels to the beam and see how the white feels for a while. As well as covering the table with a cloth. Can't be all too white though, I do have a dog and 2 children after all! Wow thanks, I have a plan! xx

It looks like a lovely room, I’d try a lighter coloured tabletop or see if you can strip or sand it off. Don’t mess with the bricks or doors, you’ll only regret it.
Even a light linen or cotton tablecloth might make
a difference in the short term.

I think the brick and door are fine but it doesn't look quite right because the white frame and orange table are throwing the colour palette out all wrong.

My first thought has already been mentioned by pp’s, it’s the oval orange table. Either stain it maybe more gray or if possible replace with a bigger table in a more rustic shade. It’s a beautiful space and I love the brick wall, you did a great job.

The whole kitchen looks good in the panorama...and speaking as one half of a fellow DIY couple who've tackled similar large projects, I applaud your herculean efforts!

But....that awful white architrave is still the one feature that stands out (in a bad way), ruining the overall look by giving the appearance of a striped look in the door area.

I get that you don't want to spend more precious time painting every architrave etc in your home, but just doing that one would tske very little time but make a massive difference imho.

In comparison the table is a straightforward fix that can be tackled with paint or just a pretty (if that floats your boat) cloth as that - and the introduction of some large, colourful art on the brick wall - would add a much needed shot of colour/pattern. There are some lovely cloths in large sizes on websites such as Mrs Alice.....

I agree with @LibertyLily 👌

I actually don't mind the white architrave, it frames the door nicely and is at least neutral.

Change the colour of the door frame .

Some people like brick, others don’t. So do you like the brick?

If not then you will probably like it more painted/washed with white.

I agree about painting the table.

I think your idea about using cloth to see how the wall would look white is a good idea. I’d use a cloth on the table as well to see if it is too much white.

You may need to experiment with some spare bricks? to see what coverage looks best to you.

Get the wall plastered.

Hmmm. But all the other doors in the house have white frames so wouldn't it be odd? We couldn't afford to do them all in oak with oak skirting. I mean I would have loved to do that, it's so nice, but it is what it is. I can either paint the wall or leave it. I have the paint already and it won't take long. I do like the idea of doing up the table, maybe in a v.dark colour or black, but finding the energy is another matter!! I'm gonna try the white curtain idea and then hopefully paint it. Plastering isn't an option, too expensive and also I couldn't get a plasterer for such a small job. I did ask for a bare brick wall to go there when we did the build so I guess I've made my bed now in that respect.

That was what I was going to post! If the frame was slightly darker than the door, it would make a link between the door and the wall.

I don't think it would be odd at all to have that architrave different to the others in the house!

You have to do what looks best in the room and if that happens to mean oak architrave in that room only, then so be it, imho. It definitely needs to tie in with the brick as opposed to sticking out like the proverbial sore thumb.

In our house (400 year old agricultural building that was converted to a dwelling 100+ years ago) we have painted each door, architrave and skirting one colour and in some cases the walls are the same colour too (colour drenching). So, for example our hallway is F&B Inchyra Blue on walls, doors, architrave and skirting, whereas one of the bedrooms has wallpaper, then the door, architrave and skirting are all Little Greene Sage. That way there's no chance of creating that 'striped' effect you currently have 😉

Yes, unless those other white architraves are in view they won't make any visual impact being different, people don't tend to go round tallying up what matches in different locations (it's not the same as the way a different carpet in every room makes for a horrible harlequin effect).
Whereas the way the white architrave currently decouples the visual complement of the oak and brick is very jarring.

Seeing the panorama I would paint the inside of the doors white, not a big job and no need to match with the rest of the house, there is a lot of white in the room so it would look right.

I did it and I absolutely love it!

Ah I'm glad you like it!

I'd be gutted to lose that exposed wall, it's beautiful, but it's such as personal choice and you live there!

Personally I'd either have painted the white architraves; or just swapped/painted/stained the table.

The white architrave is not right...it would still bug me. You don't need all your architraves matching

Yes you are right about that but I can't persuade my OH to change it and can't afford to pay a pro! It's my best compromise x

Agree with you, but I couldn't find a way to paint the architrave and the budget was pretty much zero so no new table and chairs sadly. They've discontinued 'paint and grain' to paint over white paint, so sad!