We’ve heard it all before. A fireplace with dark, outdated, and dare I say “ugly” brick has a homeowner exasperated, frustrated, and ready to pay any price to make it go away. Well, there is a solution that makes sense, doesn’t cost a fortune, and gives amazing results. Painting your brick fireplace gives a face-lift not only to your fireplace but to your entire room.
Warmer weather is just round the corner and even though there’s still snow on the ground in some places, it’s time to start thinking about updating your home’s decor for spring and your fireplace is a great place to start. It’s worked hard keeping you warm all winter and now it could use a little freshening up.
Brick-Anew’s easy to use brick painting system consists of three color choices…Twilight Taupe, Misty Harbor, and Frosted Sunshine. When you paint your brick with Brick-Anew, each brick will mimic real brick with several shades of color within each brick. Each of our kits contains five shades of paint which make up a unique color scheme. Take a look at the descriptions below to decide which one is right for you!
This color combination has shades of taupe, tan, beige, and cream. The end result resembles tumbled marble. This neutral color goes well with a wide range of colors and decor. If you have hardwood floors, brown leather or upholstered furniture with rich tones, cream colored furniture, dark wood accents, or tan or medium tones on your walls, twilight taupe would be an excellent choice to lighten your room. Bright colored accessories add interest and a bold pop of color to your neutral background. On the other hand, you could create a clean, restful look using cream and tan accessories. A dark stained wood or rustic mantel would look beautiful against this color background.
This color combination consists of light gray, cream, and dark gray. This color works well with gray carpet or tile. The gray color theme works well with modern decor using black furniture and chrome/glass accent tables. You can add a few splashes of color with decorative pillows or lamps. A cream or black painted mantel would work nicely with this look.
This color combination has tan, beige and a yellowish-cream. This is the lightest of the Brick-Anew colors. The yellowish-cream enables this color to go well with “shabby chic” decor. If you have lighter colors in your room such as pastels or soft muted colors, you might like this color choice. It would also work well with light beachy decor and a pickled or driftwood mantel.
You want to enjoy your brick fireplace during these cold, snowy winter months but every time you go to relax by the fire all you can think is…”Does my fireplace need a quick update?”
If you have dark, heavy-looking “Brady Bunch” brick that’s ruining your room’s decor and keeping you from enjoying your nights by the fire, no worries. If you have just a few hours of free time, I’ll share three easy do -it-yourself painting solutions for your outdated brick that can change your fireplace from frumpy to fabulous in a snap.
First, prepare your brick for painting. You need to clean your brick with a brick and mortar cleaner and/or trisodium phosphate (TSP). Be sure to wear safety goggles and gloves. Take a wire brush and scrub the bricks to remove any soot, dirt, or dust. Rinse and let dry. Use painter’s tape to tape off areas you want to be paint-free. Lay down a drop cloth to protect your carpet, wood, or tile floor. Whether or not to remove your mantel or work around it during the painting process is up to you.
The first solution involves using a solid color paint to cover all your brick. With the right shade of light-colored paint, this process will instantly lighten your room. If you’re painting a brick wall or fireplace in your basement where you have few windows to get natural light, this idea will make your space seem brighter and more open. First, apply an oil-based primer that blocks stains. Follow the fireplace paint manufacturer’s instructions on the can as you apply the primer to the entire surface of your bricks. After the primer dries, apply a latex paint, using a roller, to the brick surface. You can choose a flat, semi-gloss or gloss, depending on the look you are trying to achieve. Have a small paint brush handy to get areas that your brush misses, especially if you have rough, jagged brick. You can apply a few coats of paint if you choose. Make sure the paint can withstand heat from your fireplace, about 200 degrees.
If you don’t want to paint your brick a thick, solid color, you might consider a white washed look. This process involves covering your brick with a thin, white paint mixture that tones down the look of dark brick and allows some of the original brick to peek through. You’ll have a fresh, light “pickled” look that works well with cottage chic or beachy decor. Simply mix equal parts latex paint and water and use a brush to apply the mixture over all your brick. Before the paint dries, use a rag to remove any excess paint to achieve a thin, see-thru look.
If you want to keep the “real brick” look and not just paint over your brick with a solid color or wash, there’s an online brick paint kit you might want to try. The Brick-Anew paint kit comes with shades of paint that work together to give the impression that you rebuilt your fireplace with a different color brick. In other words, even though your bricks are painted, each brick will have a mottled look that mimics real brick.
The paint kit comes with everything you need…five shades of latex brick paint product, painting tools, and instructional DVD. First, you brush a base coat (no need to prime first) over all your brick and then apply 4 other shades using a small roller or sponge. It’s an easy process with dramatic results and a money back guarantee. There are three color kits to choose from including taupe, tan, and gray.
I hope these painting solutions have given you food for thought and some motivation for an indoor project on a cold winter’s day. After all, spring is just around the corner when all those outdoor projects and gardening will crowd your agenda. I’d love to hear how your project turns out!
“Brick-Anew Paint Kit to the Rescue!”
Carmen and John are both actors and have limited time to devote to each of their home renovation projects. (Maybe you’ve seen John riding a motorcycle with Flo in those cool Progressive Insurance commercials!) They have to be able to go for an audition on a moment’s notice so they weren’t real thrilled of adding another complicated project to their already long list.
When Carmen called me a couple of months ago asking some questions about our Brick-Anew fireplace paint kit, we hit it off right away. She described how she and her husband, John, had just bought a house in the suburbs of LA and how HGTV was filming in their new home for a new show in their “House Hunters” series. She sent me a picture of her living room area and the old brick fireplace she was trying to figure out how to remodel.
Let me just start by saying, we did not paint our fireplace blue. However the owners before us did. We knew we had to do something about it and we had to do it pretty quickly. After surfing the internet and not satisfied with the things we saw, we stumbled onto the Brick Anew website. I could not believe my eyes when I saw a previously painted brick fireplace looking like brick again. The texture, the definition, it was exactly what we needed.
Andrea in Maryland had this to say “What a wonderful process! And it was pretty easy” These are her photo’s shown above.
We absolutely love our new fireplace. We had been considering painting it
for several years, and then we came across your product and decided to go
for it! The brick paint color we chose was Twilight Taupe. We couldn’t be happier. It brightens the whole room and makes us feel like we have a new home!
Thanks again,
Ava and Steve
Painting the inside of a fireplace is a great way to mask ash and soot and get a fresh look without spending a fortune. There are a few considerations when painting the inside of a fireplace.
If you are painting your fireplace, you need to know that fireplaces regularly reach temperatures of 1300 degrees and more. When you paint, you need to use a high temperature, fire retardant paint like this black firebox paint.
Before you paint your fireplace, you will need to clean it. Use soap and water and a brush or cloth. This will allow for a smooth area to apply paint. Make sure the fireplace is completely dry before applying the paint.
Here is a great example of a blog who redid their firebox:
http://itsgreattobehome.net/2012/06/05/how-to-freshen-the-inside-of-your-fireplace-with-paint/
Consider which you have and make sure you use the paint that is specific to your fireplace’s interior.
High temperature paints, the kind used for painting the interior of fireplaces, are very toxic. You will want to make sure you have rubber gloves, a proper face mask for guarding against toxic fumes, and proper covering for your skin and clothes. Make sure and follow the manufacturer’s directions.
You will also need:
You have an ugly brick fireplace and you want to do something about it. Maybe you thought of remodeling your brick fireplace, but the expense was too great. Maybe you thought about painting your brick, but had seen one too many drab, flat looking painted fireplaces. There are a few other options, and one of these is painting your brick with a textured look, or a faux finish to get a new looking fireplace, at a reasonable price.
Here is one site’s solution, which involves painting your fireplace in several steps:
http://www.prettyhandygirl.com/2010/08/painting-brick-fireplace-from-white-to.html
Another site paints their fireplace white, and although we generally frown upon the painting of a fireplace with just one color, their results are still nice:
http://www.younghouselove.com/2009/01/how-to-paint-a-brick-fireplace/
In order to paint your brick fireplace, you will first need the proper fireplace supplies, and this includes:
You will want to mask off the area around your fireplace you do not want painted, the addition of a drop cloth will help prevent any excess spills from getting in your house. Then, you will want to clean the area you are painting. This helps prepare the brick to be painted – make sure the area is fully dried before you begin painting.
Your firebox endures a lot over time. Eventually it becomes charred, burned out, or even rusted, leaving your fireplace looking weathered and terrible. When you want to make your firebox look like new, a fresh coat of firebox paint is just what the doctor ordered. Before you start, you have to think about what kind of fireplace you have, and also be prepared to prep and clean the firebox for painting.
My wife and I came across your video on YouTube when we were searching for ideas on fireplace refacing and fireplace painting after our recent home purchase. It was a delightful experience and we will definitely recommend this application to others, guaranteed. Great DVD Demonstration with step by step instructions on each color/glaze application. Well done Brick-Anew.
I came across this post http://lifehacker.com/5841375/properly-paint-a-brick-fireplace , the other day that features a fireplace painted with Brick-anew and started reading the comments regarding the article. It was fascinating reading the opinions of the “old timers” who oppose painting ugly brick. We hear this every week from ladies who desperately want to update their homes and fireplace, but their husbands say no!
Choosing the right paint for any job is a hassle when you have thousands of options in front of you. However, it’s not difficult to narrow down your choices when you know what you’re looking for.
Quite simply, brick gets ugly over time, and eventually you’ll get tired of looking at dated, ugly brick. Even if your brick isn’t ugly, changing up the color of your fireplace brings new life to a room. You could also paint your brick to cover up an obvious repair.
Before choosing your paint, consider the characteristics of your fireplace:
When buying paint, you’ll notice paint retailers have many grades available from good to better to best. The one you choose depends on how much you’re willing to invest in the painting project. Also keep in mind you don’t have to buy a specially formulated masonry paint. A high grade latex paint will get the job done.
The surface and texture of the brick play a role in which paint you’ll choose. Porous brick and/or brick with an uneven surface are demanding, as they soak up a lot of paint. Use masonry paint in this case, or a primer with several layers of premium latex paint. The latter choice works in all but the most extreme cases. Use a high nap roller and a brush to get those hard-to-reach pockmarks.Smooth surfaced bricks are much easier to deal with. They require less paint, and you can easily roll or brush the surface.
Exterior paint is typically weatherproof and more durable than interior paint. It also has a mildew prevention agent. Outdoor projects are typically bigger than indoor ones, and therefore require more paint and time. For application to rough outdoor brick, use high nap rollers to minimize application time. The main issues to consider include:
Last but certainly not least, you want to love the look of your finished brick. Most people want their brick paint to emulate real brick. Random patterns and shades make brick look distinctive. This look takes time to achieve with brick paint, and typically isn’t feasible for a large outdoor project. For an indoor fireplace or brick back splash it can do wonders for your décor. For this reason, we highly recommend Brick-Anew, which is an all-inclusive kit that helps you achieve the real brick look most people love. 
So you want to paint your fireplace. First of all, congratulate yourself on having the courage to commit to this idea and follow through with it on your own. But, before you go charging in head-first in painting fireplaces, take some time to think through the process. We’ve created this guide to help you analyze a few important aspects of painting a fireplace.
When I discovered fireplace brick paint made especially for brick and it was all in one kit, I figured it was too good to be true. Wow was I surprised. When I had been researching for brick paint I was worried and skeptical to say the least, let alone trying to convince my husband to let me do it, boy was that a task. Needless to say I talked him into it and I scooped it up off the internet and away I went with my new endeavor.
I chose the color Twilight Taupe, it matches just about any decor. The tip sheet and the step by step instructions that came with the kit were simple enough to follow and I loved watching the transformation take place. I also purchased some black firebox paint and painted the inside of my fireplace too.
So, as you can see by my results I am totally pleased with the outcome and I have been recommending it to all my friends.
It’s that time of year again, the family comes to town, entertaining for work, neighbors and friends and your stuck with that eyesore of an ugly brick fireplace.