Fireplace Remodel

Hello, everyone!

I hope you're enjoying a great Sunday afternoon. I, for one, just enjoyed the conclusion of another great British Open golf tournament. My heartiest congratulations to Shane Lowery, who was privileged to win the tournament in his home country of Ireland. What a lovely, scenic place!

Meanwhile, here in my corner of the world (in North Carolina), I've just completed a major makeover on my living room fireplace. Here are some pictures of the project from start to finish.

Just as a little background, my husband and I are just (re)settling into our house. We've owned it a number of years, but rented it for a time. Now that we're back permanently, we have some big projects in the works. This is one of the first.

This fireplace was seriously ugly, y'all! My first step in the process was to clean it up! The picture at left is its original state, and the second picture is after I used a dry paint brush just to dust it down and get all the debris off. As you can see, it still needed lots of help after the cleaning.

Original and uncleaned

After cleaning with a dry paint brush

After I cleaned the surface, I affixed painter's tape all the way around the fireplace, hearth, and mantel to keep paint off the walls, ceiling, and floor. (I was not entirely successful, so touch-ups are in the works!) 

Then, I started the base coat of five total coats. I knew after the first few feet that this was going to be a massive improvement!!

 

 

Base coat started

The base coat was by far the hardest part. The age and porosity of the brick made painting a challenge. The paint really soaked in, and I had to apply a lot of pressure and multiple strokes to fill in all the little holes in the brick and mortar.

Once the base coat was on, I rolled on the first color coat, followed by a glaze coat using a sea sponge that added darker shadows and lots of patterns. Here's what it looked like after three coats. This is otherwise known as the (inevitable) part of the project where I was questioning my sanity - and the final result.

Base coat, first paint color, and glaze coat for shadows

Finally, I rolled on two more color coats, brush-painted the mantel, and returned the firescreen to the fireplace. Re-installment of that hardware was a story unto itself...but I'll spare you the wailing and gnashing of teeth involved in THAT little goody!

Here's the finished fireplace:

All finished! Time to celebrate!

Seriously, isn't it lovely?! Not sure? Take a look at the first picture above!! :-/  Yikes!

DH and I could not be happier! We love this huge transformation in our living room. It's made everything so much brighter and more modern. That, combined with our newly-painted kitchen cabinets (from old wood to white), are encouraging us to keep updating. It's making such a difference to our house - and our temperaments. :-)

Finally, I should tell you how I accomplished this great feat. I found a product on the internet called Brick-Anew. I looked up their website, ordered a fireplace painting kit in twilight taupe, watched their installation video a few times, and voila! The rest is history. Their kit came with everything I needed to complete the project: base coat, color coats (3), glaze coat, painter's tape, roller and rolling pan, and two paint brushes. I highly recommend their product and, for the record, I get nothing for endorsing their product. I just think it's fabulous!

Well, that's it for today! Rest up, folks. Another Monday is around the corner. Enjoy!