Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Fireplace Makeover

So ever since I moved into my new house I've gone back and forth on painting my fireplace. I did not hate the brick but I did not get a soothing vibe from it either. So I've been reading this blog Decorating Obsessed and also this blog Young House Love, who both took the challenge to paint their fireplaces. After reading and drooling at their new fireplace I finally took the plunge.

This is the fireplace before:



This is the fireplace after:




I LOVE IT!!!


So here is my step by step:

I first painted the mantle which was stained with primer and then took the same color as the walls - Sherwin Williams DoveTail and painted the mantle. Once the mantle was dry I think proceeded to tape off the entire fireplace to get ready to paint it white. I use a white semi-gloss latex paint.



I had to put two coats of white paint on and found that some areas of the brick in the center were absorbing the paint and so I had to put a third coat in those areas.



Now look at that nasty brass screen - YUCK!! So once the white was dry I retaped off the screen and the glass and used a high heat ultra black spray paint from Rust-oleum. If you have never used Rust-oleum before it is the best product ever and can do so many neat things. Here is the result



Finally when it was all dry I added my decorations and WA-LA! I will eventually change my decorations because I'm sure I really like them, but it is what I have right now. Any suggestions on decorating the fireplace would be excellent. Thanks!!!




7 comments:

Ashley @ Decorating Obsessed said...

It looks so great! I'm glad I could inspire you. :)

Carrie said...

Looks great! Turned out so well!

Unknown said...

Wow, that looks fabulous!

I wonder what my 70's stone one would like painted...

Homespun By Amy said...

My brick is that same weird '70's brown instead of red and I love how fresh and clean yours looks! I'm SO doing this! My mantle is a rough chunk of wood and I'm afraid it'll just look terrible painted so I think I'm going to build a mantle "cap" and slip it on top.

Cathy said...

You made a great decision to renovate your fireplace! Now, it looks so wonderful and very inviting! By the way, I love that letter B décor! You must put it somewhere else where it’ll be more visible. Cheers!

-Cathy Newman

Unknown said...

Thank you guys! I still love my fireplace and love to change out my decor seasonly. Look around my blog and you might see some of the ideas of done or recreated. Cathy I did move my letter "B" else where in my house and still love the letter. The only problem I've had in the last three years with my fireplace is when we have a fire it really puts alot of dirt on the brick, so I have to wipe it down and when we eventually sell our house I will probably have to touch that area up with paint. Also clean products have taken off the black paint, so I will have to repaint that too. But all those are minor and still glad I made the decision to paint it.

Angelina Garcia said...

Wow! You are really using your fireplace? I thought it was just for display. It must be hard for you to remove the dirt from the white tiles. Anyway, I hope you find a solution to your problem so that next time you’ll use your fireplace, you won’t have to clean so much!