Young House Love

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How To Paint A Brick Fireplace

We’re back with the fireplace update that we mentioned in yesterday’s post about removing our old not-baby-safe wood stove.

Bart Pulled Out

This next step is definitely just the beginning of our fireplace makeover (as in step two of probably fifteen). We figure we’ll tackle this baby in stages (just like we do pretty much everything else around here) so the first step was to spend as little as possible to get it looking better for the short-term (since it might be a while until Phase Two kicks in). So here’s what it looked like yesterday morning:

Bart Gone Front

And here’s what it looked like yesterday evening:

Mirror After Straight

Mirror After Side

I know, I know – the orange paneling makes it look craZy with a capital Z. But just scroll down a bit to the dark den from our first house (which also had paneling and brick) to see just how transformative paint can be (we didn’t remove the paneling in there, just primed and painted it). So try to envision some fresh paint in a soft color on the paneled walls with glossy white beams and trim to match the same semi-gloss paint on the fireplace. Can you see it?

Done With More Table

And now for a word about the candles and the mirror that I tossed into the firebox. Those are definitely not Clara-friendly. That was just mommy psychosis (I wanted something cute in there for the pics, even if there won’t be a thing in there for a while during Clara’s waking hours). It was such a quick little addition that it gave me some baby’s-in-bed-let’s-have-date-night ideas (you know as opposed to baby’s-in-bed-let’s-upload-fireplace-photos-and-write-the-post-for-the-morning ideas). The latter won out, so maybe I’ll break out this look for anniversaries. Me-ow.

Candle Tray

But when it comes to the day to day stuff, l fully expect to find pillows, stuffed animals, books, and whatever else Clara decides to put in there awaiting me when I walk into the kitchen. The girl loves hiding stuff around the house, so I’m guessing that she’ll appreciate this new little nook. Maybe we’ll even be able to sneak a picture of her chilling in her not-hot-and-not-sharp-anymore zone reading a book or snuggling with Gee (her stuffed giraffe that she named herself).

The best thing about this little fireplace facelift is that it took us about five hours (on and off with drying time in between coats) and it only cost eight dollars (and three cents, to be exact). We just used primer that we had leftover from painting the guest room (Olympic Premium No-VOC primer), some white semi-gloss paint that we always have around for trim touch ups (Olympic Premium No-VOC paint) and a quart of Benjamin Moore’s Temptation in satin that we picked up from Lowe’s (color matched to, you guessed it, Olympic Premium No-VOC paint). Primer isn’t always necessary (we’ve gone without it while painting brick before) but we had it on hand so we figured we might as well use it.

You guys know we’re no strangers to painting brick fireplaces since we tackled not one but two in our first house. Remember this guy who went from this…

Final Living Room Before 1

… to this:

Final Living Room After 1

Detailshotfireplacemantlepr

And this one that went from this…

Final Den Before 1

… to this:

Final Den Take 2

You can check out our original fireplace-painting tutorial here, but since we’re nothing if not even chattier these days, we thought we’d recap the steps we took when it came to prepping our current fireplace for paint. First we:

  • Closed the damper and declared the fireplace inoperable (we never used the woodburning fireplace in our last house and plan to either install a double-sided gas or electric insert down the road).
  • Scrubbed the heck out of the firebox, exterior brick, mantel, and hearth with soap and water to cut the grease/ash (we used Dr. Bronners + water).
  • Let everything dry.

Then it was time to prime and paint. Here’s what we did:

  • Primed the firebox with Olympic Premium No-VOC Primer (remember, we’re not going to use this fireplace for wood burning, so if you’ll be using your fireplace either leave the firebox unpainted or hunt down high-heat options that are meant for the job).

Priming Firebox

  • Painted the firebox with Ben Moore’s Temptation in satin (color matched to Olympic Premium No-VOC paint).

Temptation Can

  • Taped off the wall around the fireplace (since you have to smash a paint brush into craggy brick, it’s hard to stay in the lines).
  • Caulked the big crack between the tile hearth and the firebox so it would look seamless when painted.

Caulking Crack

  • Caulked other especially cavernous holes in the craggy brick so it looked less shadow-y and chipped when painted.

Caulking Brick Cracks

  • Primed the brick fireplace surround, wood mantel, and even the tiled hearth (yup, the tiled hearth… more on that in a minute).

Primed Fireplace

  • Painted the brick fireplace surround, wood mantel, and tiled hearth with two coats of Olympic Premium No-VOC semi-gloss paint in off-the-shelf white (some folks like more contrast when it comes to mantel and hearth color, but we’ve always loved the all white look – although later when we build out or even tile the fireplace & surround we might add more varied colors and materials for fun).

Painting Fireplace

  • Applied three thin and even coats of Safecoat Acrylacq (a low-VOC non-toxic alternative to polyurethane) to just the tiled hearth on the floor. Be warned that certain polyurethane types will leave a nasty yellow tint so the only two that we trust are the Safecoat I mentioned above and Minwax Water-Based Polycrylic Protective Finish in “Clear Gloss.”

You think we’re crazy for painting the tile on the floor huh? Check this out. We did the exact same thing to the exact same heart floor in our first house. See the same little smashed up tile?

Final Living Room Before 1

The whole prime, paint, and poly technique was meant as a very very temporary solution (we planned to replace the tile pretty soon thereafter). But it stuck. Literally. It still looked mint four and a half years later when we sold the house! Even with foot traffic (in shoes) and small nephews of ours ramming it with metal matchbox cars. Here’s where I’d add a close up shot, but sniffle, we don’t live there anymore. So here’s the last wide shot we took of the room (you can see that it still looks glossy and white):

Final Living Room After 1

So although painting ceramic tile, especially tile that gets walked on, is nothing the pros recommend, we’re totally cool with doing it as a temporary fix (although doing it in a bathroom is probably a terrible idea because it can get slick when walked on with sopping wet feet). I should mention that in both cases the tile was terra cotta which is really matte and porous (and not slick and shiny), which might be why it grabbed the paint and held the heck on for such a long time. Who knows, it could inexplicably show a lot more wear and tear than it did in the last house (you know we’ll tell ya if things quickly go south). But either way we’re pretty sure we’ll bring in some awesome new tile for the hearth and maybe the entire fireplace when we get down the road a bit (read: save enough loot to tackle the kitchen in a more major way).

Have you guys painted any brick lately? Or ever primed, painted, and poly’d tile- just to see what would happen? Has your husband ever taken terribly unflattering photos of you painting something to get you back for sharing pics of him scrubbing brick in his high school gym shorts?

Comments

  1. Kat says

    You definitely got me hooked on Pinterest. Oh my goodness, I’m so addicted now! We just moved into our first house, so it’s been extremely helpful with design ideas… of course, alongside yours:) Thanks and keep up the great work on the blog! LOVE it!

    Reply

  3. Barb says

    Did you get my FB message for a good summer book to read? Sorry this is off the subject of FP painting. Just curious…..

    B.

    Reply

  4. Rebecca @ the lil house that could says

    Gorgeous!!! Now you have me really itching to find a solution for my black slate surround. Do you think the paint and poly method would work on slate? I mentioned yesterday that someone told us we could paint it with concrete paint, but we’re worried about the VOCs indoors. We do use our fireplace, but we realized this winter that the slate doesn’t get hot (we could touch it with the fire roaring) Here are some pictures from the fall, when I had no clue how to adjust the white balance :)
    http://thelilhousethatcould.com/2010/10/21/warm-ups/

    Cloudy black slate must go! Someone please help :(

    Reply

  5. Allyn says

    Holy crap! What a difference some paint makes!
    I once had an apartment that was all white, white walls, white fireplace, everything. Once day I got bored and painted the fireplace black.
    Good thing my landlords didn’t seem to mind.

    Reply

  6. kelsey says

    that looks great! i love painted brick!! i got a chuckle out of your whole taking out the old wood stove post yesterday. my parents had one almost just like that in their house (it was raised up on a hearth, so we didn’t mess with it too much as youngins) but one year a squirrel got in there and chewed up all the wires. it was a hot mess getting that crazed wire chewing squirrel out of the fireplace, but it was a funny memory. Mom and dad finally ripped it out completely and put up a cool set of doors (typically i am not a fan of fire place doors, but these look good) so kudos on your fireplace makeover, it looks great and i know you feel better about since clara can’t hurt herself anymore!

    Reply

  8. Krys72599 says

    Paint our fireplace???
    We hired a sandblaster to come in and blast the white paint OFF our red brick fireplace!!! We bought the house in June and they were there the week before Thanksgiving to return it to its original brick glory!
    He sandblasted the original thick, painted white mantel so for a few years it was just a huge slab of rough sandblasted wood, covered with some kind of runner at all times.
    Just a couple of years ago hubby built and replaced that piece of sandblasted pine with a beautiful oak slab that is shellacked to a shine!
    No pix available; we bought the house before digital cameras so I have to scan old photos to make them digital…

    Reply

    • Jen_nifer says

      I have to agree with Krys. I loved the red brick (not Black Bart though) and am disappointed to see it painted. It was that classic colour of brick that is timeless. The glossy white is highlighting the hideousness of the paneling and making it seem more yellow.

      I’m hoping to eat my words when the paneling is painted.

  9. Jill says

    HOLY MOLY! Love it! I truly have no clue how you got that done so fast. It took 5 coats and 5 days for me to get our fireplace done… the dang deep mortar about killed me. Looks GREAT!

    Reply

  10. Meghan says

    Love love LOVE the transformation! While house hunting I’ve always been afraid of old brick fireplaces because they can sometimes be an eye sore…but you make me LOVE them because they can look so modern and sheek! Great work!

    Reply

  11. Gracie says

    That looks so much better! Even the paneled walls look better. What an amazing transformation for just 8 bucks. Good job and I bet this will become a favorite spot for Clara to hang out.

    Reply

  13. Shunta says

    wow!! that fireplace makeover is like night and day!! you guys are so impressive. In other news, what’d you think of The Voice last night? I am actually quite pleased with Blake’s decision. I was rooting for Dia and Xenia! And I had a feeling that Frenchie would make it but wasn’t sure who America would pick from Team C.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Agreeeed! Best choice ever by Blake. And I knew Frenchie would get saved since she’s the powerhouse and Xtina wants to win. She even said “to play the game I’ll keep Frenchie” or something weird like that. Such an interesting show! And every day I love Adam Levine (who I used to think was grooooosssss and womanizing) a little more. So strange.

      xo,
      s

    • Lindsay says

      I have the very same feelings about Adam! I also used to think he was gross! haha but he is so nice and adorable to me now!

  15. Pammy says

    You guys are so smart to paint the tiled hearth on the floor! We have one in the family room that is weird colored broken pieces of tile… I am tempted to do this too! But can you see the indents from the grout lines, or does the texture from that add interest?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      The best way I can describe it is that you can feel the grooves when you run your hand over it but since it’s all painted glossy white your eyes sort of skid across it so you don’t notice any bumps. It looks more like one big slab of white concrete than a painted mosaic. Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  16. Kari says

    Looks one million times better! We painted brick and paneling in our sun room and it made such a difference. Will you paint the kitchen next, or are there some other things that need to happen in that room first?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We’d love to paint the paneling next but it involves priming and painting beams and trim, priming the walls, and painting the walls- which is a huge job since the kitchen is 25′ long! We’re hoping to tackle it in the next month or so (but we’ll need to secure some serious babysitting to get it done!).

      xo,
      s

  17. Wendy says

    Great updates! Just a thought for the candles: battery operated candles, complete with built-in timers. I know they sound hokey, but there are some brands out there that look just like the real thing. They might be a nice, Clara-friendly solution for the fireplace. We stumbled upon them one day and bought a few; we can now safely enjoy candlelight in our house with a 3-year-old running around.

    Reply

  18. Emily R says

    I’ve been reading your blog for about two years now…LOVE IT! I’m one of those people who are scared to paint brick or paneling. I have one room in my house that is all wood paneling and I’m dying to update it. I’m giving birth in a little less than a week and understand I probably won’t be in the mood to paint right away…but…how do you handle painting inside with a baby nearby? Where does Sweet Clara go during these painting expeditions?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      She’s always napping or sleeping for the night when we paint (or sometimes one of us watches her while the other works, so maybe you could tackle it with the help of your other half?). We’re also super crazy about using no-VOC paint and primer and running fans and opening windows just to keep the house from getting fumey! Good luck!

      xo,
      s

  19. KathyG says

    AWESOME job – I think you’ve inspired a nation to paint red brick fireplaces!

    In my old house, we had a hugetotheceiling red brick corner fireplace. Sucked life right out of a notthatbig room. We had a drywaller come in and drywall over it (leaving the fire box, of course) – adding in some nitches, etc. I l.o.v.e.d. it. Kicked myself over and over for not doing it years earlier.

    Reply

  21. Stephanie says

    We did this last year, and it made such a difference! http://underwatercondo.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html

    I adore white fireplaces. Yours looks gorgeous! Our fireplace has a concrete hearth, and it’s not the most attractive. I left it for now, but this post is making me reconsider painting it white too.

    I’m also thinking about painting the tile around our jacuzzi tub white. The tub is white, and the tile is beige with flowers and is ugly as can be. It’s essentially just a back splash to the tub (there’s no shower), so painting would probably hold up okay.

    Reply

  22. Nikki says

    I love that you painted the fireplace white like at the last house– that’s how I found your blog originally (we were wanting to paint ours but didn’t know how). Keep up the good work!

    Reply

  23. Margaret H says

    I am SO GLAD you did this! i want to paint my fireplace so badly, and now i have a great tutorial! thanks guys

    Reply

  24. Joy says

    WOW ! The kitchen is bright. What a great upgrade – and could be a really fun pillow filled toy filled play spot.
    – Joy

    Reply

  25. kelly says

    We have been wanting to paint our fireplace for a L-O-N-G time now, but we use it as a primary heat source all winter long and the bricks radiate heat so I am concerned that even with high heat paint it will still blister. I can’t find anywhere on the internet examples of makeovers in which the fireplace was used 24/7 for 6 months out of the year… anyone have experiences or advice to share?

    BTW I love your fireplace!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Anyone have info for Kelly? John’s sister painted her brick fireplace’s exterior white (she used it every day during the winter for five winters in a row) and it never even blistered (got some soot stains after a few years but she just painted over those to give it a fresh look). Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

    • Kari says

      When we painted our fireplace, we asked about whether it would be a problem. We were at a local building supply store, so we felt like we were talking to people we could trust. The gentleman we spoke to said that we should check to see how hot the bricks got. Ours don’t get hot at all (and we don’t use the gas logs that much), so it wasn’t a problem. I would advise checking with someone at a local building supply store or even someone who is a painter. They might have some advice about what you can use.

  26. Dana @ HouseTweaking says

    Uh, I’m sorry. Did you just say you loved my mantel?! Crazy since you guys are the ones who got me inspired to make my house a place I love to be. Love the new fireplace look! We have some Underdog mantel painting in our future.

    Reply

  27. Alison says

    We keep a vintage fruit crate in our firebox so the kids to go in and stick their hands up the dirty chimney. It also keeps it from being a gaping black hole. It works and looks good too.

    Reply

  28. Steph says

    Question for you guys. My husband and I just bought our first house. I am a lawyer and work some pretty long days, and the hubs stays home with our son. We are trying to accomplish our ever-expanding to do list, but it seems that in the almost two months we’ve been in our house, we’ve done very little (painted our bedroom and our son’s room). Any tips for accomplishing things? I try not to compare myself to you guys ‘cuz you’re the experts and you’re also doing this during the day, but sometimes I read your posts and feel like the ultimate slacker. Would love any tips you have. Thanks!

    Reply

  29. Sophie says

    I’ve never painted a fireplace. Well, yet… Since I’m only just graduating high school so I’m still in my parents house.

    But, today I did undertake my first ‘Oh heck, why not?’ project in my bedroom. I have a small wall on the side of my built in closet that’s only 20 inches wide. The things on there constantly change since posters don’t fit right etc etc.

    And last night I was thinking ‘why don’t I paint rainbow stripes on there’? So I did.

    I was kind of inspired by your stripe painting adventure in your nephew’s nursery, though mine are a regular pattern. After LOTS of taping and three hours, I have 2 inch horizontal stripes across it. I mixed an extra 7 colours from the ones I had, so there are fifteen bright happy stripes and I LOVE them!

    Thanks for the inspiration and the courage, guys! I LOVE the fireplace, can’t wait to see it when the paneling in the kitchen is painted, too. (:
    x

    Reply

  30. Sarah B says

    The candles are sooo pretty! And now that we are a A.C. (after children) house we are now all about the flameless candles that run on batteries. In fact, I found some that have a timer built in – it’s fabulous! I love that they just magically come on every evening, it’s so nice after putting the kids to bed to get a little candle glow.

    And funny that Clara takes her long nap in the morning – my one and half year old takes about 45min to an hour in the morning and then about an hour and a half in the afternoon. And 7:15 is bedtime too – anything later and she’s rubbing her eyes and clinging to me like mad.

    Reply

  31. Sharon in NYC says

    BEEEE-U-TEEE-FUL! I have been fixated on how dark that kitchen is compared with all the lovely changes you have made so far in the new place. (Realizing of course that a full-on kitchen renovation is HUGE and SPENDY.) I feel I can now sleep at night knowing a fantastic mood-changing dent has been made in there!!!

    Reply

  32. Megan Brewer says

    So pretty! I enjoyed looking at your photos! You guys are so awesome!

    I really loved looking at how you ‘staged’ or arranged accessories on your three floating shelves by the table because I have struggled with three floating shelves I have. I see that you chose similar colors to work with and a variety of heights and textures- I like it!
    Happy decorating and living-
    Megan
    http://cottagebluedesigns.blogspot.com/

    Reply

  34. Emily D. says

    These fireplaces posts are not helping me! I found and fell in love with a house online because of the fireplace. It is so similar to the one in your first home, even with the exposed beams and the paneling. All I can think about is painting and totally transforming the room. But we aren’t planning on moving until next year. Ugh, I want to paint a fireplace(said in my best Veruca Salt accent)!!

    Love the progress by the way, keep ’em coming, I’m a masochist.

    Reply

  35. lisa says

    Wow, that looks great. So much better now. Wait, I’m confused…you said you wouldn’t have it as a wood burning fireplace? I must’ve missed where you said that. When you open it up to make a fireplace on the other side i guess that will be non functional also, of course? Will you one day maybe make it a gas fireplace? Sorry,you probably answered that already huh? Guess my mind is just blown away from your fireplace, that I can’t think straight. hehee.:)

    Reply

  36. Emily kidd says

    Ok I’m on the fence about painting. I have a ton of trim paneling and built-INS that are wood. The wood is pretty it’s not dark but I feel like the house would look bigger and cleaner with white. I don’t have Photoshop is there another way I could see how my house looked with white before I take the plunge?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Maybe try printing out a photo and using white out or some sort of white marker or pen to get an idea? Or cutting white strips of paper out and holding them over the paneling to try to “see” it that way?

      xo,
      s

  39. Lili says

    Looks great!

    I’d like to paint our fireplace white. Do you guys always use Olympic paint? I went to Lowes and wanted them to color match a Glidden swatch to Olympic and was told the color was not in the system. Have you ever had that issue??

    Thanks!

    ~ L.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We bring the swatch so they don’t need anything to be in the system (that way they can just scan it and mix a custom color). Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  41. kimb says

    In your old house did you replace the ceiling tiles or just paint them? And if you did just paint them what was the process?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Yup, but it’s hard (stripping and power washing and all that stuff). So don’t do it unless you’re reaaaally sure. We’re just such fans of painted brick (especially in classic white). It feels pretty timeless too.

      xo,
      s

  44. Erin says

    It’s amazing what a 48 hours and a few coats of paint can do! I appreciate that you aren’t afraid to take risks with your DIY projects (like painting tile)… I hope I’ll be brave when it comes to making decorating decisions in our new place.

    Reply

  45. Giulia says

    Great job, looks so much better!

    Have you thought of using stick-on mirror panels for the time being? That would be safe for Clara but still give you that sparkle? My strategy for our fireplace accessories was to have a couple of nice things (you could use non wax candles), stage them and have my kiddos go for it. Both my kids would move them a couple of times and then it got boring and the staged accessories stayed put.

    Reply

  47. b says

    be careful with those candles in the fireplace. my mom did that once and the wax got so hot it ignited and we had flames climbing the brick walls. the fire dept was not impressed.

    Reply

  49. sarah says

    So glad to see someone who painted the hearth. we have that same cracked clay tile looking crap in our house, and i have just been waiting to replace it. i never thought to paint it! THanks!!!

    Reply

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