We had ugly brown speckled brick on the exterior of our house which we had painted and our fireplace/mantle/shelf area is all painted white.  I don't know if you really want to keep the grout the way it is, but I love painted brick and grout.  It gives you texture, but uniformity.  I think we just primed and painted, no special paint.  No flaking or peeling and we've been here fourteen years.