Painting fireplace

[Claki]

Have you painted your fireplace? I have a 11 foot brick fireplace that really dates our house to 1976. It's a huge eyesore. If you painted your fireplace did you use a kit or just do it on your own? Pictures?

[lalasmama]

IMHO, painting it (assuming it's brick?) takes it from 1976 to 1985, maybe, but not much beyond that. Were you thinking of painting it as is, or doing a treatment over it of some sort?

[Claki]

I am open to treatments and paint jobs. Something just has to be done. This isn't my forever house, so I don't want a complete remodel, just a cosmetic update. I have other things that I need to put money in first -- flooring, cabinets, etc. We want to sell in the next few years.

[elbenn]

Here's a recent thread on this, complete with pictures:

http://windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=397753&highlight=painting+brick

[Claki]

Thanks Elbenn! Good info there! I missed that thread the first time around.

[AnnieW625]

I am not a huge fan of painted fireplaces as I like the look of natural brick, but I think in the linked post that it did look nice the way DanieleUT did hers as well as JoyNChrist did hers too. I personally think they look okay as long as there is a enough contrast.

[AvasMama]

I personally love painted fireplaces. I have painted two of mine white -- I just used regular latex paint and a long-nap roller to get into the grooves.

FWIW, I've seen several HGTV episodes lately where the designers have painted fireplaces and other brick and they always look SO much better. One tip I got from those shows is to consider colors beyond white. One show used a color slightly darker than the wall color and it really looked amazing.

[khm]

I'd much rather have a painted fireplace than an ugly brick one. (I'm thinking that ugly blonde color that was popular.) I too would look at white and at other colors depending on your room.

I'd also consider just getting rid of the brick and building a wood surround and mantel, but I have a handy husband...

[Claki]

Thanks everyone! We'll probably paint it tan. Ours is the same ugly brick that is on the outside of our house. It looks like it's not even meant for interiors. And the mortar work is also very sloppy, though everything is sound. And it's massive, 11 feet wide.

[nrp]

I'd much rather have a painted fireplace than an ugly brick one. (I'm thinking that ugly blonde color that was popular.) I too would look at white and at other colors depending on your room.

I'd also consider just getting rid of the brick and building a wood surround and mantel, but I have a handy husband...

We did the wood surround and mantel (or rather, our carpenter did) and I think it looks awesome, although we didn't rip the brick out, just built the wood around the existing fireplace. We had that really 70s style skinny long brick, and this made it match so much better to the existing trimwork in the room. Definitely this is more expensive than just painting, but it was a more radical improvement for us.

[kristenk]

Thanks everyone! We'll probably paint it tan. Ours is the same ugly brick that is on the outside of our house. It looks like it's not even meant for interiors. And the mortar work is also very sloppy, though everything is sound. And it's massive, 11 feet wide.

I know what you mean about it not looking like its meant for interiors. Our fireplace was ugly. Very, very ugly. I'm generally anti-painted fireplaces, but our house's prior owners had put some sort of glaze on the bricks so they were shiny in places. Ugly, shiny brick is even worse than ugly regular brick!

We painted the whole fireplace a cream color. My FIL built a wood mantle that looked much better than the old one. We covered the opening in the side of the fireplace that was supposed to be for wood storage with wooden doors. Finally, DH painted the fireplace doors black (they were brass). It looks much, much, MUCH better now.

Sometimes painting is the only option.

One warning for you is that it takes a LOT of paint. I don't know how many coats of Kilz primer we did, but it was a lot. Then we did 2 coats of latex paint.

[BeachBum]

Obviously they are very handy....but have you seen this?

http://theletteredcottage.net/my-82-fireplace-makeover
http://theletteredcottage.net/?p=6300
http://www.myrepurposedlife.net/2010/02/painted-brick-fireplace-makeover.html

you might want to google around on other decorating blogs to see what ideas you can turn up.