We painted our exterior brick… but it’s not what you think. Many people ask if we would ever paint our little brick ranch. The truth is that although we seriously considered painting the exterior when we first bought the house, we’ve come to love the original brick and the low-maintenance life it offers. Brick ranches are prized for their durability and simplicity: no siding to replace, no re-stuccoing, and no regular repainting. That matters. Here in Richmond, painting a brick house in a medium or light tone often invites green mold and mildew to appear quickly, which means frequent, time-consuming cleanings with bleach or specialty cleaners. Scrubbing the entire exterior of a house every season? No thanks.
So how does the title make sense if we didn’t paint the outside? The catch is our sunroom. The sunroom was added about twenty-five years after the house was built and it was attached in a way that left some of the original exterior brick become interior brick inside the new room. Because of that overlap, a portion of the outside brick now sits within the sunroom’s interior wall.
When we first looked at the house—on the very day we walked through it for the first time—I stood in front of the sunroom. At the time, the exposed brick inside the sunroom contrasted sharply with the rest of the sunroom walls and the overall palette felt disjointed. It didn’t feel finished or cohesive. We wanted the sunroom to be a welcoming, balanced space, so we started thinking about how to make the interior feel unified without compromising the exterior brick that we love.
After living with the sunroom for a while, we realized that painting only the interior brick wall to match the soft tan of the adjoining walls would immediately bring the room together. Because the sunroom isn’t part of the heated and cooled space of the house, we chose an exterior-grade latex paint for durability and better moisture resistance. Aside from selecting exterior paint, we followed standard brick-painting techniques—clean the brick thoroughly, allow it to dry completely, use a primer if needed, and apply paint with a roller or brush designed for masonry—to ensure even coverage and longevity.
We applied the paint carefully so that the interior brick matched the tone and finish of the rest of the sunroom walls. At first we worried that walking up to the glass door and looking back at the unpainted brick on the exterior might look odd, but in practice it felt much more intentional. Before the change, the random brick that extended a few feet into the sunroom stuck out and made the room feel unfinished. Painting the interior portion solved that visual interruption and created a calm, cohesive space.
The result made a noticeable difference. The sunroom now feels like a single, integrated room rather than a patchwork of interior and exterior materials. Painting just the interior brick allowed us to preserve the exterior character and low-maintenance benefits of the original brick while making the indoor space more comfortable and consistent with our decor.
We’re pleased with how the change turned out, and it was a relatively straightforward update that had a big visual payoff. Over the next few days we’ll share a small follow-up update about this exact spot—nothing dramatic, just another tweak we made to refine the space (hint: it’s not a baby). If you’re debating whether to paint brick in an interior addition or sunroom, consider painting only the interior-facing brick to keep the exterior’s original character while gaining the cohesive look you want indoors.
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