Transform Your Brick Fireplace in a Weekend: Part 1

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I’ve wanted a painted white brick fireplace for YEARS. In our last house the brick was dark and dingy and I kept planning on painting it, but just never got around to it, so after moving into our new house in May, we decided to make it a priority on the to-do list. The new house had a fireplace similar to our old one, dark and dingy. But it had great potential with the wood mantle and pretty built-ins. We finally got started on it last weekend.

Let. Me. Tell. You. WOW! What a HUGE transformation!

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For part 2 of the post go here.

Fireplace Before

We started by removing the corbels. They just looked weird to me. They were almost too much for the mantle. But I kept them and plan on re-using them as bookends or décor when I decorate the built-ins.

UPDATE: See the refinished corbels here!

After that, we cleaned the brick (with just some good ol’ soap and water) to remove dust and soot.  Then we primed it (this primer has been our go-to for years) so that it wouldn’t soak up the paint.

After Primer

After the primer dried, which didn’t take long, we rolled on the first coat of paint. We used Ultra Pure White by Behr but we love Glidden’s Premium Paint + Primer (great paint for only $18/gallon!) so we had them look up the color in their database at Home Depot and mix it with the Glidden brand. We chose an eggshell finish.

I wish we had known that they actually make a special roller just for masonry. We didn’t find that out until after we were finished so the rolling got a little tedious. The bricks came out close to a 1/2 inch from the grout in some places which meant we had to go back in with a brush to get the grout.

It took one more coat for a total of three (primer + two coats of paint) to completely cover the brick.

Fireplace After

Now, if your fireplace is just brick like our last house and you don’t plan on doing anything with your mantle, then you’re done! Easy and inexpensive transformation in just one weekend! I wish I’d gotten a better picture at this stage but we still had the built-ins and a few other things we wanted to do so check back for phase two of our fireplace makeover!

You may also be interested in:

Transforming Your Fireplace in a Weekend: Part 3

Laundry Room Makeover on a Budget

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