You'll recognize our guest writer's name from her House Tour -- and also probably from her work on TWoP. Will her post inspire you to tackle your own January Jumpstart Project?
We have lived in this house for over four years, and I have hated this fireplace for at least three of them. It's attractive enough, I suppose, but it's got at least four different colors going on, including a pale purple wash around the top edge up there. You can't see it, probably, but IT IS ALL I SEE. The only solution I can see is to paint that baby white. All of it.
Having painted approximately forty thousand household objects in my life, I know the first thing I need to do is gather my supplies:
TSP Cleaner
Primer
Bucket o' paint
Brushes
Brush Cleaner (optional)
Tears
I find all of these things lying around the house, although none of them are in the same place. So I'm ready to go, and get to work wiping the fireplace down with TSP. I run into Unforeseen Problem #1 right as I'm getting to the end:
About half of the mortar here is broken and getting worse with every swipe of my towel. It will need to be replaced before I go on. Do I look like a mason? What to do?
Allow me to introduce you to my old friend Paintable Caulk.
The caulk claims that it'll be dry and ready to paint in two hours, so I get to work. Tip: Caulk is sticky. Wear latex gloves. I didn't, but you should.
While I'm waiting for the caulk to dry, I start priming the top and front of the fireplace surround. I use Kilz 2 Latex Primer, which dries in an hour and can be painted over with either water- or oil-based paint. Lucky, since all I have is oil-based.
Caulked, taped, and primed.
Now I just have to wait until it's dry enough to paint. This is the point in the project where a reward is appropriate. I grab a beer and sit down to watch paint dry.
Time's up! Now it's oil paint time. Lots of people are scared of oil paint. Don't be: it's more durable, cleanable, and very shiny. Who doesn't love shiny? The trick is to work quickly and carry a big brush. I usually buy a two-pack of three-inch brushes; buy mid-range, something you won't be sad about throwing away. Oil paint is notoriously difficult to remove from brushes, and who are we kidding here? It's going in the trash the second we're done.
So I get the paint opened and poured into some small container. Tip: Don't overload the brush with paint and glop it all on -- you want a thin, even coat, because you're going to wait a few hours and do it again.
To recap: Paint, paint, paint. Wait, wait, wait. Paint, paint, paint.
Voila! A new and improved fireplace, all spiffed up and ready for spring.
-ab chao
Looks great!
view kittyj's profile
wow, looks so much better! nice work, and i love the dangley thing in front!
view ecm's profile
AB - I could have really used this tutorial when I was painting my own ugly fireplace a few years ago! Love this transformation.
view anh-minh's profile
it really looks so much nicer. you must not have cats if you can have that neat dangely thing!
view Signe's profile
i need to paint the inside of my fireplace--it has been used in the past for fires--anyone have advice on how to clean and then paint? After it is painted can I ever have a fire in it again?
view taracakes's profile
Looks gorgeous! What an improvement :)
view lwray's profile
looks so nice! it opened up the whole room. great job!
view amylou's profile
Beautiful job! And I love the color-organized books in the built-ins.
view ScottB's profile
Ooh, AB Chao, you have a gorgeous house, you know about oil paint, AND you work for TWoP? I'm in luv. (In a non-stalker type of way.)
view Jenny in DC's profile
that looks lovely!! so glad you used oil-based, the shine really does wonders for making that fireplace pop!
i'm curious about the effects that an actual fire in the fireplace would have on oil-based paint...
also, AB, you're a great writer! i really enjoyed reading your how-to...hope to see more from you!
view my little apartment's profile
Beautiful job AB!
and for those of you who don't have a cool 3 on 3(?) brick pattern, and are still in love with this post, which inspired me...
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/how-to/how-to-make-your-brick-walls-like-bddws-004202
here's yet another take on a brick wall/fireplace
before
http://www.flickr.com/photos/southof290/432112913/in/set-72157600022883647/
and after
http://www.flickr.com/photos/southof290/2197653931/in/set-72157600022883647/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/southof290/2198441448/in/set-72157600022883647/
view southof290's profile
Seriously, that looks so so so much better. Nice job.
view brittanykate's profile
Thanks, everyone! I don't know how it would do with actual fire in the fireplace; ours is rigged for a wood-burning stove, which we'll not be attempting.
Signe: We do have cats, and I think they just haven't discovered the dangly thing (which is a string of pine cones) yet. So far so good!
view abchao's profile
Looks great, but was your fireplace a non-working one? I've watched enough HGTV to know that there's special paint that's specifically for working fireplaces. :/
view ChibiRobo's profile
I LOVE white fireplaces.... looks so good : )
view starbaby's profile
This is wildly beautiful. But you have some swell kind of place when that first photo is considered the "before"!
view Curtis's profile
Oh, thank goodness. For a second, I thought the purple fireplace was the "after." The white looks great.
view Lisa Hunter's profile
A drastic improvement! I just hope that it is not a working fireplace; it would be a shame to mar that pristine white finish.
view hejiranyc's profile
Apparently I'm the only one who thinks the "before" looked better than the "after"? When I first looked at the post, I thought the top photo was the finished project! White fireplace, white bookshelves, white walls... ho hum boring. The fireplace is totally lost now and a total NON-focial point.
view Daily Nuance's profile
You're not alone, Daily Nuance, but apparently the gray-with-white-trim fireplace I see on my screen is a lot less chaotic than what it looked like in person.
view wende in the twin cities's profile
It is a beautiful fireplace and you did a great job with the paint, but I also agree that the darker color looks better. It. It just makes it stand out.
What about a steel gray or gray with a touch of navy. That would be striking.
view schnauzer's profile
beautiful! great job and thanks so much for the tutorial. I might emulate this down to the "taking a beer break" detail.
view ange_lune's profile
On my monitor, it looked grey, and I liked it. The only thing that bugged me was the leading edge of the brick still being "nekked."
I am not a fan of painting the actual firebox when painting a fireplace, either.
view patrick (the other one)'s profile
I hope you can get ab to do some regular guest posts, because that post was entertaining, informative and had good photos! All the things I want in an AT post.
view small clever rooms's profile
Unfortunately yeah, I think it lost too much definition in all-white.
And the paintable caulk and non-heat paint will probably make some future owner swear when they try to turn that back into a working fireplace!
view JG's profile
I like the "after" pictures so much better than before! Leslie, I think you've made that room so much better
Also i love love love that plaster finish over brick that southof290 posted.
view Talula's profile
If that's a non-functioning fireplace then it looks nice. Though if you plan to use it then it's going to perpetually look dirty. I would've left the inside black or a dark grey.
view Minyuette's profile