My tonight’s minor “improvement” project! I took down the ugly mirror in the powder room. The prior owner was into single color scheme. She painted every piece of trim the same color as the walls… mirror trim, too. It was painfull to look into it! 
Got it down and saw that there is a piece of drywall attached with a screw. Hmmm… maybe there is some wiring for an LED edge-lit mirror in there? That would be awesome.
I have a question for all you experts:
My house needs exterior painting. It’s currently some sort of wood, so of course it needs painting every five years or so. Before we have it done – which won’t be until the spring anyway – should I consider replacing the wood with vinyl or aluminum siding? IMO, those are tacky imitations of wood siding, but maybe I’m wrong.
These days I’m all about zero maintenance.
There are some nice-looking vinyl siding brands out there, and there’s a pretty good color choice. Around here even high-end new construction can get vinyl siding. I don’t think they are tacky-looking, and from the curb it can be very difficult to tell the difference. So unless it would be totally out of place in your neighborhood, to the point where it might lower the value of your house, it would be vinyl all the way for me.
Is aluminum siding still a thing? AFAIK aluminum siding can still require painting, which sort of defeats the purpose. Plus, it dents.
At the least I would price both of them out. If you are planning on being in that house for a while you might find it way cheaper in the long run to install vinyl siding. I have found that the cost of having a house painted twice exceeds the cost of installing vinyl siding. YMMV of course.
We replaced the rotting cedar siding with Hardi. While it still needs painting to begin with, it does not require as frequent repainting as wood. We lived in a south-facing house for 18 years and never repainted the Hardi. The initial color faded a bit, but not to the point where it would have been obvious. Had to paint the trim which was cedar, and it was a pita. Hardi looks more wood-like than vinyl and is guaranteed for 30 years if installed correctly. We also opted out for fibercement trim in this house. Hope to paint it once and be done with it until we sell.
Completely agree with @notrichenough. I would steer clear of aluminum for those same reasons. Modern vinyl siding is not your grandma’s siding. It can be very nice.
We received quotes for both hardi-board and vinyl siding companies, to replace our gable area that seemed to need painting on a more frequent schedule than the rest of the house. The quotes were 3 to 4x the cost to paint, so we had it painted, assuming it would be about 15 years to break even. That paint job has lasted now about 4+ years, and still looks good. The most recent paint on the rest of our home has lasted about 6 years, and still looks good except for a few minor spots which I touch up as needed. A good prep and paint job can last longer than 5 years. Plus it allows us to change the color periodically if we desire a different look.
We did vinyl shakes on our house when we remodeled. We are extremely happy with it. My house faces southwest and needed painting every five years. I have stone on a part of the front too and was able to match the siding to one of the colors (putty) in the stone perfectly.
My M-F 9-5 time is very valuable. Getting painters in and having them bid on the job is a cat-herding PITA. So painting every 5 years is not an option for me.
Fireplace advice needed!
I’m wondering what I can do with my fireplace. Here’s picture:
[Fireplace[/url]
The brick is too dark in color for my taste.
Covering it with some other material (a la what @coralbrook did in her current project) will be difficult because the brick is not flat. Some of them have extra pieces stuck on. I don’t know if this is particular style or something that was popular in 1970 or what:
[url=<a href=“https://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/32532343@N00/38493363140/in/dateposted-public/%5Duneven”>https://www.■■■■■■■■■■/photos/32532343@N00/38493363140/in/dateposted-public/]uneven bricks](IMG_20180216_114347 | Fireplace 3 | wayside61 | Flickr)
They are not level, either, you can see from this that some stick out further than others:
[not level](IMG_20180216_114300 | Fireplace 2 | wayside61 | Flickr)
We are planning on removing the left bay, and just bringing the chimney straight down. That wood panel you can see in the back is actually a door into the garage that they apparently used to bring wood in, I think. Very secure, not:
[Left side will be removed](IMG_20180216_114420 | Fireplace 4 | wayside61 | Flickr)
Thoughts? I know we could paint it but I am kind of ‘meh’ on painted brick.
IMO, if you are going to keep the brick, whitewash it instead of painting. I do not like the look of glossy brick. Of course, I would just get rid of the brick altogether and replace it with stone, but that is a major $$ project.
Lol about the “doggie door” to the garage.
No advice, except WOW that is a lot of bricks!
I prefer cement Hardi planks but that is because vinyl siding is not normal in Southern California. We are more worried about termite damage.
You might look into Behr Marquee paint or something similar. There are some new paints that are fade proof and last a lot longer. Good prep and slightly more expensive paint might be the way to go.
I put Hardiboard on my garage and addition. I’d like to take the aluminum siding from the front and side of our house and replace it with the same Hardiboard. (The alum siding is a faded red barn color, the Hardiboard are charcoal gray planks, when we took off the siding in the back for the addition we discovered that the original siding had been very, very dark cedar shingles.)
Wow that is a fireplace puzzle.
Some of that brick looks like it has lost the mortar between bricks which is somewhat dangerous.
I think you are going to have to do something drastic to get the scale and geometry of the fireplace modernized. It really is “heavy” and lopsided to the eye
What is your style in the rest of the house? Or…more important, what is a style you love?
You could demolish the left side of the fireplace and then drywall a box over the entire brick to create a brand new style and size if you want. Drywalling a new box over and around the old brick is a low cost solution.
I cannot tell if the brick is superficial built on the wall, or whether it is structural and integrated with your actual firebox
If I look at the “not level” photo, are you illustrating that the brick surround is thickest at bottom and tapers up skinnier against wall at the ceiling? If yes, there might be a way to turn that into something stylish
OK, I just realized this is in your new Cape Code house with the views.
I’m going to be honest about that fireplace…it does not match the style of the house at all!!
unless the photo is out of whack, the whole upper brick area sloping to the left is just odd and strange. If this fireplace is a focal point in the living room where you have your nice views, it is a total distraction.
If money is an issue, paint out that whole top part to blend in with wall color and do something nice to the bottom part
You can stain brick. Not cheap (by others), because it is labor intensive.
I agree wtih Coralbrook - hiding it behind Sheetrock is probably your best bet - painting it white would also make it less of an eye sore. Misformed clinker bricks were very popular in Craftsman style architecture, more outside than inside though. I’ve never seen them in newer houses. If they only stick out half an inch or so - you could probably just have furring strips so the wallboard isn’t resting directly on the brick. Or you could just knock off the edges that are sticking out.
That’s a great phrase for what is probably 20 hours worth of work!!
Whitewashing brick:
https://www.lowes.com/creative-ideas/paint-stain-and-wallpaper/whitewash-a-brick-fireplace/project
@BunsenBurner : Thanks. That looks so easy, and so much better than before. And Boy, would that be cheap.
Looks like there are only 5 or 6 bricks sticking out in some kind artistic expression that is escaping me. Those can be cut off but it will take a very tall ladder to get up there!