Colors To Paint A Brick Fireplace – If you have a brick fireplace, you may want to consider painting it for an updated look. Today’s post will walk you through the steps I took to make my painted brick fireplace in an afternoon and the materials needed (hint: it’s not actually paint).
As soon as we moved into our first house, I knew one of the first projects I wanted to do was paint our brick fireplace. While I appreciate brick and often admire its character in other homes, the brick in our fireplace was not pretty. It had red and orange undertones that screamed dated and I wanted a softer, more neutral look in our home.
Colors To Paint A Brick Fireplace
I scoured Pinterest for ideas and found tons of pictures of brick fireplaces painted white. The only problem was that I didn’t like the rough look of the white brick. There were also some whitewashed brick tutorials that had more coverage, but that wasn’t the look I was going for either.
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I searched again and found a product called Romabio Limewash. It is a real lime paint specially formulated to create a unique wash effect on stone, brick and other masonry surfaces. It is a 1-layer process and is self-priming, and is produced from lime quarried directly in Northern Italy. You can read more about it here.
Update: This limestone product has become very popular since Studio McGee used it on the brick exterior of their new home.
What I liked the most is that you can get a custom look just by applying it and you can cover the brick as much as you want. The product is a natural product and can be washed off within 5 days of application, so if you applied it and hated it, you could always wash it off. It made it look less permanent and scary.
When I looked online for inspiration, the lime brick fireplaces I liked the most had a two-tone effect and used a combination of colors to achieve a varied look that looked more natural than a solid color. I think it looks more dimensional and authentic to have different colored bricks.
Diy Brick Fireplace Makeover
I used 1 liter of Avorio White and 1 liter of Nuba Gray and mixed each in my bucket using a 1:1 ratio of lime water to water.
This stuff is magic! It is incredibly easy to use and forgiving. You can’t go wrong, seriously. At first when I mixed it I didn’t think I would have enough and it looked too watery so I didn’t think the color would stick. Don’t be fooled. We had plenty of product to finish our entire fireplace and the paint was perfectly covered.
1. I started by wiping the brick with a damp cloth to make sure I had a clean surface to work on. I decided not to paint the fire pit because it is a wood burning fireplace and we keep it covered. Cover the mantle and floor around the fireplace with drip cloths because it’s going to drip!
2. For the lime wash to work, you must first wet the surface before applying the product. I took a large spray bottle full of water and sprayed the brick fireplace so it was wet.
Painting Over Painted Brick Fireplace. Does Anyone Have Experience Doing This? We Hate That It Is Cream Colored And Would Rather Have It Grey Or Even White Would Be Better. I Am
3. In 2 separate 5 gallon buckets, I mixed the 2 colors I used following the directions on the back of the can at a 1:1 water to scale remover ratio. I used a liter of Avorio White and a liter of Nuba Grey. Since limestone is made to work with brick and stone, allowing it to breathe, there is no need for a primer. Save a step and why I love this lime water even more!
4. I started on the top of the fireplace first with Cloud Gray and randomly applied it to the regular bricks using my factory brush, not being very careful to ‘stay within the lines’ of each brick as I wanted it to look natural and authentic. more than perfect I highly recommend a mason brush as it is much larger than a brush and therefore works much faster in this step. Also, the brushes are really flexible and make the job easier. *Update: I noticed one reviewer didn’t like the masonry brush. I only used the Romabio brand brush which worked great, can’t speak for the cheaper factory brushes.
I kept taking pictures of random bricks going down the chimney. Since the product is watery, it leaks, so it’s best to start from the top.
5. After I was done with the Cloud Gray and moved to the bottom of the fireplace, I continued with my bucket of Ivory White and started applying the limestone with my factory brush, starting at the top again. But this time I painted the remaining bricks, just quickly skipping the bricks that were already painted Cloud Grey. I was very sloppy in my process and didn’t try to paint all the Cloud Gray bricks perfectly. I actually have the gray bricks muted and it gives a natural look. The drips on the gray bricks didn’t bother me and I liked how it looked more authentic.
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It was hard to get into the grout lines between each brick with a masonry brush because it’s so big, so I went back with a 3 inch brush to get in between each crack so everything is covered.
6. I waited about an hour for the limestone to dry, then started from the top of the fireplace and wiped some of the limestone with a damp cloth. This is the beauty of the product. You have 5 days to clean it and adjust it to the level of cleanliness you want before it calcifies and solidifies. I wanted it to be pretty well covered so the red brick wouldn’t seep through, so I honestly didn’t clean much.
It really is that simple! I just washed the fireplace myself in one afternoon and it really only took a few hours of work. Using two colors took longer, but I think it was definitely worth it and I love how it turned out!
For under $100, we completely transformed our fireplace. I can’t praise Romabio lime enough!
How To Paint A Brick Fireplace (the Right Way)
I painted the old gold shelf with high temperature matte black spray paint to update it and make it look much more modern. My dad also built a new wooden mantel that is thicker and fits the brick mantel better. I love how everything turned out!
Our living room is definitely one of my favorite rooms in our house. It is very cozy and comfortable. The antelope rug ties everything together and is so soft! It’s from an online rug store that has amazing prices and they always have sales. You can buy my rug here.
I recommend using a rug under the carpet as the carpet is thinner and I prefer my rugs thick and soft.
By the way, if you’re curious about how to mount a TV over a brick fireplace, this tutorial shows exactly how I did it and hid the cables. It’s a very easy method if you don’t have an existing socket in the brick, which we didn’t.
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With our wedding in July and family and friends with us for the occasion, I thought it was about time we gave our room some love. I haven’t touched it since I moved
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