Who doesn't love a good fireplace?! I remember growing up I loved ours in the back family room. The comfort of just being near it cuddled up reading a book or having great conversations and being around family. It was nice and warm and relaxing and I knew I wanted one someday. When we first toured our house I loved that it had a working fireplace, the outdated look, not so much. Other than the mini project of making our new house numbers for the exterior, this was our very first interior project. We took our old fireplace and gave it a modern look in two days!
The fireplace wood was very old and you can tell (especially up close), it really really needed some tlc. It came with matching brown lights, red bricks, and red/brown tiles. I overall thought it just looked old and dirty. My initial idea was to cover the brick with new tile and painting a pattern on the floor tile, Adam wasn't a fan so I'll save that idea in the future ;) I compromised and just took it easy since we had a lot of unpacking to do.
List supplies:
Painter's tape
Paint brush/roller
Behr White *** Primer and Paint (for wood)
Black Heat Resistant Paint (for brick)
Black Floor Paint (for tile)
(if your updating lights) New light fixtures of your choice
All can be found at Home Depot including the lights!
Tape off everything and do each section one at a time.
First we primed and painted the wood. Even with the first coat it looked a TON better already! The wood was so dark we ended up having to use three coats altogether.
Once the mantle was dry we wanted to update our lights with new black sconces. This was Adam's first go at updating any electrical, ever- with the help of my brother's directions. It was scary for the both of us but look how amazing he did :D We kept these bulbs warm for when we'll eventually start our first fire!
Next up were the bricks. Black paint rarely needs multiple coats, but just to be safe we used two.
Last but not least the tile. We used a roller here to give it the smooth look. Brushes were used for hard to paint corner areas.
TIP: We thought using the same black paint for the brick and tile was okay, learn by our mistake: If you have dogs who are walking and playing in this area... you need the floor paint. After the first coat, the dogs had made a few scratch marks with their nails.
This was such an easy project and did not take a lot of time. Shows you a little paint can go a long way. Our living room is still currently NOT finished. I'm still deciding on the main light fixture and art to put up on the walls haha. Let me know what you think of this fireplace facelift!
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