Fireplace receives a face-lift

You might have noticed in previous pictures that our fireplace looks a little bit different. We finally took the plunge and started painting the fireplace. It is something we have wanted to do for awhile. Our goal is to keep the brick look, but give it a cleaner, brighter look.

This what the fireplace looked like before. There is one brick that had a big chunk missing, so Matt tried adding mortar to it to complete the brick. It, however, cracked during my priming, so Matt ended up completely removing the brick and putting in a new one. Now you never would guess it has been replaced.

Here is the fireplace all primed. It took me FOREVER! It is 360 square feet of brick...HUGE! So quite of few nap times were completely dedicated to painting.

Views from the living room and the side facing the stairs.

Views from the dining area and the part that wraps around on the side of the fridge.

The day after Thanksgiving Matt and I painted the base coat. This will be the grout color. I am so glad Matt helped me. We were able to get it all down in an afternoon. It was so much faster since all the holes and crevices had been filled in with the primer.

We are now researching how to do a faux finish to create a "brick" look. But the paint colors are already waiting in the garage!