Updating Rock and Brick Walls in Your Home

So you fell in love with the “bones” of your new-to-you home… not so much the 70s décor. As you renovate your new found treasure, it’s easy enough to replace wood paneling with sheetrock. And, while it’s not easy, scraping a popcorn ceiling is doable.

And you love the full rock wall inside your sunroom. Or the all brick fireplace. Well, “love” is a strong word. Maybe it’s more likely that you love the idea of it, but the deep red color of those bricks certainly dates the room.

There are a few easy fixes here – they might even be easier than you expect – where you can change the appearance of your interior rock and brick surfaces while maintaining their integrity, emphasizing their beauty, and not getting all Italian-villa-exposed-brick-cheesy.

Painting

The obvious answer to changing the appearance of interior stone or brick, shy of doing a complete demo and starting over, is to paint it. But this approach only has appeal with certain décor choices. It’s a very pristine look and works well with a modern design. 

Painting brick is fairly simple and shouldn’t take more than a day if you’re working on an interior space. Keep in mind that, depending on the color you go with, painting stone or brick may require a primer.

Whitewashing

If you’d like to keep the natural integrity of the stone or brick – maintaining a rustic look, but without the stark contrast to the rest of the room – then whitewashing the stone may be a great option. All you need to do is:

• Take a before picture of the stone or brick
• Clean the stone with a wet cloth
• Place a splash guard over the floor b/c there will probably be dripping
• Water down the paint of choice in a bucket of 1:1 ratio paint and water
• With a cloth or sponge, soak up some of the water mixture and  ring it out tow where it’s wet but not dripping
• Rub the watered down paint on the brick surface until covered

Allow each coat to dry and then take another picture. Compare it to your before picture because the changes you see with the naked eye will be subtle, so the pictures will help you to determine if you want to apply another coat or not. Continue to apply coats until you reach your desired muted tone to fit the design of the room.

If you’re unsure how to get the look you desire, or want some other ideas on how to deal with an unsightly stone or brick wall or fireplace, HA Construction is happy to come take a look and help brainstorm with you. Our expertise may come in handy in helping you to think outside the box. 

Here Fishy, Fishy | Best Ways to Display Your Home Aquarium

Are you a fish lover? I don’t mean tilapia on tasty fish tacos. I mean the kind you could just stare at for hours as they swim and scuttle around an aquarium. There is something rather soothing about the rhythmic to-and-fro of anything from little guppies to puffer fish in clear water among decorative stones and “sunken treasures.”

There are a number of options for displaying your aquarium, big or small. What it really depends on is how much of a feature you want it to be in your home, and whether you go with salt water or fresh water creatures.

Salt vs. Fresh Water

Let’s start there. And I’m going to be honest right from the start: salt water aquariums are significantly more expensive to establish and maintain than fresh water aquariums. The fish and other water creatures cost more, and you need live algae and plants to help keep a saltwater tank clean. You need sand as opposed to rock and not only do the sides of the tank need to be cleaned, but the sand does too. In fact, with a larger saltwater aquarium, you’re better off hiring a professional to come clean it once a month so that you know it’s done correctly and regularly.

That isn’t to say that saltwater aquariums aren’t worth the expense; they are certainly more colorful and more beautiful than a fresh water aquarium, which often requires brightly colored rocks and other accidents to give some punch to the duller colors of most fresh water fish.  

There are, of course, exceptions to the dull tones of freshwater fish, such as brightly colored goldfish, bettas (be careful what you pair these aggressive buggers with – especially avoiding other bettas), mollies and discus, to name a few.  An added benefit to a freshwater tank is that they’re easier to clean, especially if you also use a filter. The fish are significantly cheaper (which means they’re easier to replace too).

Where to Display Your Aquarium

So, we’re going to sort of skip right over the small 10 gallon tanks that go on a counter somewhere. They don’t add anything drastic to your home décor and are often there for the sake of having fish (a noble cause indeed). But when you get into the big kahuna that becomes the centerpiece of your living room, there are a few things to consider.

If you plan to do a built in tank – such as built into a wall or around a fireplace as pictured here – you have to make feeding and cleaning easily accessible. If you read the link above, you’ll see that a saltwater tank requires at least 15 minutes a day of maintenance – so you need daily access to your swimming pets.  A cabinet disguised as a wall that gives you access to the top of the tank is a good idea.

As you look at your aquarium location, keep these factors in mind:

• Keep it away from windows, especially those facing the east or west. Sunlight is the leading cause in algae growth, so if you want to minimize it, no tank by the window.
• Avoid placing an aquarium near a door; the sudden movement may not stir you up, but the vibration can scare and cause stress on your fish.
• Large vents, radiators, or air conditioners can change the temperature of the water in your tank, which is something you want to keep relatively the same at all times to keep your fish healthy.
• Use a stand, table, built into the wall, whatever you desire, but don’t put a fish tank directly on the floor.

There are a lot of options depending on what you want and where you want the aquarium to be. HA Construction can certainly help in that design, and work together with your “fish guy” to showcase your fish in the ideal location of your home.