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How to Paint a Brick Fireplace

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How to paint a brick fireplace to give it a quick facelift.

I was excited to have a fireplace in the living room but that excitement quickly faded when we realized it was in the only space that could hold our tv.

view of white painted fireplace with tv on mantel

After a lot of discussion, we decided that the only place for the tv was over the fireplace. Not my first choice but, when you live in a small space, you do what you gotta do.

small empty living room

The mantel wasn’t wide enough to hold our tv, so we did what any good DIYer would do…

We slapped a piece of plywood up on the mantel, hooked the tv up and called it done.

cable box and tv on fireplace mantel

It stayed this way for 6 months until I couldn’t stand to look at it any longer.

front view of fireplace with tv on mantel

It took awhile to find the perfect piece of wood but we eventually got there.

Now the mantel looks 100% better, the tv fits and we ditched the ugly plywood.

dog on pillow in front of fireplace

Since we finished the mantel makeover, I thought it was time to refresh the old brick fireplace.

When we moved into the house the brick surround was painted black and inside was a bunch of propane logs (with about 20 years of dog hair and dust).

It was dirty, dusty and completely gross. I wasn’t sure how I wanted it to look but I knew it needed to be cleaned up. I removed the screen, as well as the gas logs, and gave the firebox a much needed cleaning.

empty living room with fireplace

We lived with the surround painted black for months, trying to figure out what we wanted to do.

Unfortunately, inspiration never hit.

After we finished the mantel, though, I decided to freshen up the surround. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money or time doing a makeover, so I decided to just give the fireplace a fresh coat of paint.

Prepping the fireplace for paint

Before any paint went up on the old brick, I donned my snazzy yellow rubber gloves and gave the surround a thorough cleaning with hot water and TSP.

box of TSP, yellow rubber gloves and bucket

Painting the brick fireplace…

The rest was easy.

A couple coats of the paint we used on the mantel, Sherwin Williams Alabaster, and the old brick fireplace makeover was looking fresh and new.

first coat of paint on fireplace surround

It only took 6 months and a little bit of paint on the old brick fireplace, but it’s looking so much better and brighter.

side view of chair next to fireplace with tv on mantel

The walls are on the list for paint (eventually) so that will change things, too.

white brick fireplace with tv on mantel and stool with flowers next to it

I still want to do something fun to the surround but I can live with this…for now.

fireplace next to chair with blue pillows

Check out a couple of other fireplace projects that we’ve done to transform this space.

DIY Fireplace Mantel