Painted Brick – Our old Victorian kitchen had a very ugly bricked over hearth that had been painted over with a shiny, peeling red paint. We couldn’t figure out what to do with it – get it blasted out or something. But we used Ralph Lauren paint (after pointing the brick) and then smoothed on a subtle contrasting paint over the grout lines with a rag, and came up with this result. It was actually quite easy, and inexpensive.