Painting our Fireplace

First our dog tore up a section of our carpet. Then we decided if we were going to do the carpet we might as well upgrade the flooring in our living room and kitchen. And if we did all that we should probably paint our old brick fireplace too...

Painting a brick fireplace:

Honestly, it's not a difficult project. Our fireplace had this weird rope decoration going around it so that obviously had to go. This was what made things a little more complicated.

If you are painting a regular fireplace, here's what you'll need:

~Wire Brush

~Regular Brush

~Shop Rags

~Small Cheap Brushes

~Small Paint Roller (4 in)

~Masonry Paint (I used Behr Masonry Stucco & Brick Paint)

~Semi Gloss Paint (I used PPG Diamond Ultra White Semi Gloss)

~Shop Vac (you may be able to get away with a regular vacuum but it would be a mess with all the soot)

Step 1 Cleaning

You'll want to give your fireplace a good cleaning. Use the wire brush mostly on the grout. Take your larger brush to clean off the brick. Use a rag to pick up any more loose dirt. Taking a shop vac clean up any soot and ash inside the fireplace. You'll want to vacuum around the brick as well. Lastly, tape off any areas inside the fireplace to block paint.

Step 2 Priming

I did 2-3 coats of the Masonry Paint and Primer. Use the small paintbrush in the grout and to fill in cracks and crevices. The 4 inch roller is great for covering the top and sides of the brick.

While painting the second coat look for little dark spots that may have been missed in the grout.

I ended up just touching up a few bricks with the third coat. This was probably unnecessary as the Semi Gloss paint covered any discoloration.

Step 3 Final Coat

I would recommend finishing your fireplace with a white paint. We had some leftover semi gloss from painting our baseboards and it turned out really nice!

For our Fireplace:

This project was a little more complicated because we decided to remove a decorative rope that went around. Turns out the rope was a quick fix to avoid finishing work around the brick.

Drew pulled off the rope (surprisingly easily) and finished the wall with spackle.

I taped off the brick and painted the wall using a feathering method to blend it in with the old paint.

That's where we ran into a problem. Turns out we did not have the right paint for the living room. The paint I was using was actually for our kitchen, which is just a shade off.

Back to Home Depot where I was surprised to find that the color matching machine works incredibly well. I guess that's the power of the Home Depot!

I re-painted the wall and it looks great!

Thanks for joining another home improvement journey!

Cheers,

Allie