That hot pink fireplace is HOT MESS.

I never had, or wanted, a fireplace, and I want never to live in frozen winters again. If I were to wind up with a fireplace in a home a bit further north someday, then I'd probably never use it. Since I prefer bright color to brick, I'm fine with the idea of painting a fireplace.

I second @arroyo's comment. Wow, that pink fireplace is truly awful.

@ARROYO YOU ARE RIGHT

And there really is a special place in hell for those who paint over brick.

I love color. I love bright pink. I HATE that pink fireplace. I like the others okay though...especially #4.

@Lisa Hunter; I would assume these were painted by owners, not renters.

We had a already painted white wooden surround on a non-working fireplace that I only accented with yellow for a little pop of color, but I painted over it when we moved out.

And yes, that hot pink is atrocious.

Painting over brick in historic homes, maybe not. But painting over those awful huge 80's brick fireplaces that over power a room, yes pleeease.

well, not all of them. but i do like the dark purple one. it is something i have considered, since i discovered the original mantle for my house in my basement. the fireplaces are long gone, but i have thought about putting the mantle up. and it would need a freshening. and i don't care for white, so...

I think that special place is actually that third room. Imagine being in there for eternity.

The hot pink - why? The pale blue is lovely, though.

Zusie, You're too funny. I just laughed so loud that my dogs got worried.

Even though I spent four weekends last winter stripping (three huge cheers for Peel Away!) over 10 layers of paint off a stone fireplace, I totally get why people paint them. That said, none of these are ringing my bell, although the orange one has some merit. The rest either uglify (like the pink) or hide the beautiful form. The orange one does do some highlighting of the beautiful form, but then the color takes over.

#4 is actually quite nice.

And interestingly, #3 appears to be the only one where brick was actually painted over.

I appreciate the effort in what the homeowners are trying to do in spicing up their living rooms. I'm not sure I would go as far as painting the fireplace, but I would try adding color in a different aspect - maybe accessorize the room. I've bought these for friends and have the bull in my living room...

http://store.shoprootsinc.com/sdbhch.html

Our first house contained a brick front fireplace that the previous owners tried to spice up with glossy magenta latex paint (it was lovely with the peach wallpaper). After trying to strip it off (don't bother), I painted over it with Ralph Lauren river rock paint in a neutral cream color. The end result was 10,000 times better than what we began with, and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again if the situation presented itself.

i just did this in my daughter's room and plan to do it in the entrance way ASAP!

The blue / white is quite lovely...

@Zusie lol, maybe that is the hell mentioned above. They also seem to have a stuffed cat on the mantleshelf.

I wouldn't say it could never work these are just poor examples.

I'm not against painting brick at all, so I don't agree with the saying. But I don't like any of the examples shown. To each his/her own though. And if the owner tires of the colour, he/she can paint again.

I'm fairly certain I hate painted brick on the inside of a home. This is what our fireplace currently looks like: http://myheartbehaves.com/2010/08/11/firestarter/

I think it's funny how many people are against painting brick, unless it's from the eighties. Just wait another 20 years when "80's modern" is all the rage and this blog is full of people complaining about their original 80's mantle that somebody painted.

I do like the first and last ones. Not sure about the second one, but maybe it works well in the room, it's just hard to tell from that picture.

The third one, I think Zusie had it right!

We had a similar situation to MsAmy - the fireplace in our (rental) house was already painted a heinous orangey beige - then the landlord tried to improve it painting it a dark maroonish brick red. He is very literal. He said we could do whatever with the place as far as paint, so we painted it a warm medium grey and while I would prefer a natural brick fireplace, this is 100x better than how it looked before.

I am not a fan of brick, period, but painted brick is even worse. If you want a colorful fireplace, why not face it with wood or masonite or something, and paint that?

Our textured brick fireplace was a hideous baby blue when we moved in... with terracotta tile on the surround and the grout painted white! Sooo ugly. We painted it all white and it looks a hundred times better! Especially against the freshly painted blue green walls. I think it looks much more modern.

80's modern- totally coming back.

The little blue one is very sweet.

I have an ugly faux-wood gas fireplace in my basement that I've been thinking about painting white. This post is making me consider other colors... love the pale, pretty blue.

If you must...please SEAL the brick first! Then it can be undone when you change your mind (or the next owner decides it's ugly.)