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Young House Love » Home Improvement » How To Paint A Brick Fireplace

| By Sherry Petersik | June 15, 2011 | 400 Comments

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?

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Filed Under: Home Improvement, Our Second House, Painting

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Comments

  1. John H says

    October 27, 2011 at 12:47 pm

    Uh, you will never be able to use the fireplace for a fire again now that you have filled the fire brick with latex. I feel bad for the next owners who don’t figure that out. Use a fireplace as a nook? Uh, no, try an electric insert to make it look like one. Mine is a heater too…I used the heavy construction wallpaper on the paneling after priming it. The glue fills the grooves and hides the holes for painting, and the paper shrinks while drying and made it look like drywall. Overall, the project made the room 1000% better. Good job!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      October 27, 2011 at 1:00 pm

      Yup, we mentioned that we’re planning to double side the frieplace and add a double-sided electric insert someday!

      xo,
      s

  2. Debbie says

    June 4, 2012 at 9:41 pm

    ok, I’m going to give this a try, although I’m not sure you’ll even get to see my question– :)

    We have a brick fireplace with a gas insert, so we don’t use it for burning wood but we do turn on the gas flame once in a while. When we do turn it on (after our little guy’s off to bed in the wintertime), the brick and the wood mantle get pretty warm. We want to paint the brick and repaint the wood part of it but I’m not sure if we need paint that’s heat-resistant or if regular latex semi gloss would be ok. I’m trying to find some answers online and looking through the comments on this post and don’t seem to find what I need. Any thoughts??

    Thank you so much!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      June 4, 2012 at 11:16 pm

      I would ask the pros at a paint desk (Benjamin Moore people usually know a ton about that stuff) since they might have some high-heat paint that’s perfect (or decide you don’t need it). Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  3. karmen says

    July 16, 2012 at 12:01 am

    question. Wanting to paint living room a gray tone..wanting to paint the fireplace white. If I went with ruffled feathers for the fireplace could i still go with a gray on the walls and what color tone

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      July 16, 2012 at 9:33 am

      Any gray color works with Ruffled Feathers! It’s such a neutral! I would just bring home a bunch of gray swatches since they all read differently in different houses (ex: something that looks like a soft gray in our house, like BM’s Moonshine, could look bluish on your walls even if it looks completely gray on ours). Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  4. Christina says

    August 17, 2012 at 10:26 am

    Hey YHL! I LOVE your blog! So inspiring! I am about to paint my brick fireplace and can’t wait!!! Did you guys use a masonry sealer too like the “Cozy” blog you featured today? And what’s your opinion of using flat versus semi gloss for it? The paint man in Home Depot told me to use semi gloss.
    Love love love you guys! xo

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      August 17, 2012 at 10:36 am

      We just used regular old latex paint! There’s a tutorial on our Projects page if that helps! As for the paint finish, we have used semi-gloss and flat, both with success. Semi-gloss is just easier to wipe down if you worry about stains. Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  5. Shawn Murphy says

    August 30, 2012 at 1:26 pm

    This is a great tutorial! We have a red fireplace in our living room that I’m dying to paint white but my wife loves to have a fire in the winter (we are in NJ). Is it a bad idea to paint a working fireplace white? Is there any way to prevent ash and smoke from staining the outside when we open it to put more wood in?

    Any advice is appreciated!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      August 30, 2012 at 2:17 pm

      My sister in law painted her brick white and used her fireplace every winter! Other than just doing a few paint touch ups before selling, it held up great! Semi-gloss paint is a good choice since it’s easier to wipe down so the ash won’t stick (once it’s dry of course, wait for it to fully dry before using it).

      xo,
      s

  6. Andrew says

    September 6, 2012 at 11:28 am

    Hi…

    I have a couple questions for ya. We just pulled our wood stove out as my wife was inspired by your site. It’s been a while since you’ve done this. I see you recommended Olympic here, but in recent months you all have been using Zinser Primer and Benjamin Moore Advanced. Then I also saw a post where you guys have recently started using Paint in Primer in one. What would you recommend today to paint the brick? Also what kind of caulking did you guys use to fill the holes and cracks?

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      September 6, 2012 at 11:31 am

      We just use white paintable door and window caulk for the cracks (make sure it’s paintable!) and any sort of paint + primer (like Behr) would work – or you could use Zinsser + Ben Moore if you’d like! Hope it helps.

      xo,
      s

  7. Reann says

    October 10, 2012 at 9:40 am

    Morning!

    This weekend, painting my fireplace was my project since it was so cold on Sunday. I couldn’t convince my husband to remove the outdated fire place insert, but with him I need to do things in baby steps:) Luckily I was able to convince him to paint the tile hearth that looked just like yours and your before and after photos convinced him, thank you! After I primed and painted the tile hearth, I can still kind of see the outline of the faux grout lines or whatever it is. Do the three thin and even coats of Safecoat Acrylacq get rid of that?

    Thank you!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      October 10, 2012 at 9:41 am

      Oh no, I wouldn’t use Acrylacq (that’s just a sealer, so it wouldn’t get rid of that). I would use more paint. Hopefully more thin coats will cover that. Good luck!

      xo
      s

  8. Reann says

    October 10, 2012 at 10:16 am

    Ignore my last comment, I realized that I should probably read through the previous comments and I found my answer:)

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      October 10, 2012 at 10:17 am

      No worries!

      xo
      s

  9. Victoria Mabry says

    November 11, 2012 at 5:14 pm

    I am so excited to find these photos. They have helped me convince my hubby to let me tackle our dark family room that is all dark wood and dark brick. When we get it done, I’ll share some before and after pics. And…I might have some questions along the way, although you’ve included a lot of great info here. Thanks!!!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      November 11, 2012 at 6:07 pm

      Good luck Victoria!

      xo
      s

  10. kimberly says

    August 10, 2013 at 6:40 pm

    Tackling a very similar project. How did you dispose of the insert/stove? That thing weighs a ton!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      August 11, 2013 at 11:57 am

      We craigslisted ours for $40! We hear people can bring them to a scrap metal place or restore them, so it went pretty fast.

      xo
      s

  11. Amanda says

    April 3, 2014 at 2:47 pm

    Hay guys! Just a quick question – what kind of caulk did you use to fill the holes in your fireplace mortar? I am hoping to tackle our fireplace this weekend. There are huge screws in random places from the previous owner that I am anticipating are going to be lots of fun to try and pry out and will leave big holes.
    Fingers crossed mine comes out as nice as yours did! :)

    Thanks,
    A

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      April 3, 2014 at 2:47 pm

      White paintable Dap door & window caulk.

      xo
      s

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John and Sherry Sitting On Woven ChairHey, we’re John & Sherry. We’ve fixed up 7 homes, written books, designed products, started a podcast, and then downsized & moved to the beach! Here you’ll find over 3,000 DIY projects & home updates. More about us…
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