Long time, no blog! Life has gotten away from me over the last few months and the blog fell off my priorities list, but I’m back and have so much I want to share with y’all!! Today I wanted to share the first DIY project I ever did in my house because I am still so obsessed with it! I painted the drab beige fireplace…BLACK! I had pinned 100 white fireplaces and was dead set on painting my fireplace white from the first time I set foot in my house. But then I found this blog post and completely fell in love with their black fireplace. I knew I’d talk myself out of it, if I didn’t do it right away, so that night I hopped right in and got started.
It was so easy and inexpensive to complete this project and only took me a little over a day. The biggest thing to keep in mind is buying the correct products, so you don’t ruin the brick.
Step 1: Prep
To prep the fireplace make sure you clean it off really well! I started by vacuuming the mantle, brick, and hearth then dusting and scrubbing with an all purpose cleaner. Next I lightly sanded the mantle, but if you don’t plan on painting your mantle you can skip this step.
After the surfaces were cleaned and ready for paint, I taped around all the walls and edges. Since the brick was being painted a different color than my mantle, I also taped around the mantle. If you aren’t going to be doing anything to the hearth around your fireplace, I would recommend putting down a drop cloth.
Step 2: Prime
Priming the brick is super important to make sure you don’t ruin it. Since brick is so porous, you need to make sure you use a primer suitable for masonry like this one. For the mantle, I used a paint and primer in one, so I did not have to buy a different primer.
Step 3: Paint
Now for the fun part!! The paint I used was a Masonry/Stucco/Brick paint by Behr in the color Limousine Leather in a high gloss finish. The painting was pretty straight forward, I cut in around the edges with a brush and then used a roller for the larger flat areas. It took me 2 coats and a few touchups to get a nice coverage. I used this roller cover which is designed for rougher surfaces and it worked like a dream!
For the mantle, I actually just used the same high gloss white paint I used for all of the trim in my house. It took me 3 coats to get a good coverage, and I used a normal brush and roller to get an even coverage.
If painting was all you wanted to do to update your fireplace, you’re done! I went one step further because I hated my red hearth, but if the rest of your fireplace looks good you can stop here!
Step 4: Peel and Stick Tile
I have never used peel and stick tile before this, but I’ve always thought it was a great idea when you don’t want to demo a space. This hearth was thick and would have been a disaster to try to tear up. I found these peel and stick tiles on Amazon and they were so easy to use!!
I started in the middle and just used scissors to cut the other tiles to size. Around the edges I used caulk to hold the skinnier pieces on the sides and fill in the gaps. The best part of this tile I is I can take it off in the future if I get tired of the print and replace it with something else!!
That’s all it took to completely transform my living room! I am still so happy with the black and don’t regret it at all! Looking at it now, a white fireplace would have completely blended in to the white walls surrounding the fireplace, so I know I made the right choice.
Casey says
Those peel and stick tiles are just so cool!