Painted brick fireplace





 Very busy day today!! I decided a few days ago that my next DIY project would be to paint the brick fireplace. I Grabbed a paint brush the next morning and got started! I like the look of a whitewashed brick and a fully opaque painted brick but wanted to ease into it so I started with the lesser of two evils...whitewashing. I figured I could always paint it solid white if I didn't like it. I am in love with how it turned out!

This project cost a whopping $0, but what a great updated look!! I used left over paint from the kitchen cabinet makeover and mixed in some paint from the baby's room too. Its a mix of 1/2 Cloud White by Benjamin Moore and 1/2 White Sand by Benjamin Moore. I took that paint mixture and then mixed it in a ratio of 1 part paint, 3 parts water. Using a regular paint brush I started brushing it on. Get in the grout lines first because the paint is very runny and if you paint the bricks before the grout you will just have to go back over to get all of the drips. I had planned to wipe the excess paint off with a cloth, but my brick was very porous and soaked up all the paint, so I skipped the wiping step.

 The brick in the picture to the above right that shows unfinished brick is how my first coat looked. The far right brick in that picture was too gray for what I wanted. I tested out a mix ratio of 1/2 paint 1/2 water and started on the arched bricks. This was what I had in mind, so I went back over the first coat. The picture below that is a close up of what the finished product looked like.

This entire project took me only 2 days, and that is only because I had to wait on my husband to take the TV down to finish. I even enlisted the help of my 2 oldest kids. They are 6 and 7 and were so excited to help. If you are thinking about doing this at your house...go for it!