Whitewashing Your Fireplace

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We have bought two houses in our married life and a requirement each time was always a fireplace. It seems silly I am sure, but hanging stockings from a mantle at Christmas time is just a must for me. Plus, it makes such a great focal point for a room. Unless….you don’t like the brick. Then it doesn’t give you that cozy up by the fire feeling. And that was the case with our fireplace. 

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This pinky brick, just wasn’t my cup of tea. Our house has both warm and neutral colors. The (new!) floors are a chocolate brown, the walls Smokestack by Behr, and the colors a mix of blue/teals, golds, browns, and neutrals (well, and orange right now because of fall and AUBURN football!). To be honest I was a little gun shy on painting the brick because I knew once I did , there was no going back. But after 3 years, I finally decided to do something about my fireplace that just didn’t fit. 

And yall, I don’t know why I waited so long. I feel like this is always the case with house projects. This DIY was easy peasy and my fireplace finally feels like home! I didn’t take any “in process” pictures because I was trying to knock it all out in one nap time, but I’m going to give you a pretty easy to follow step by step if your fireplace also needs a face lift. 

I started by wiping off the brick and taping the floors around the base of the fireplace (that rhymes!). Then I used a small sample I had of my wall color, Behr’s Smokestack, to “mute” some of the bricks that were the pinkest….simply getting a small amount of paint on my brush and dabbing the brick. 

Then came the whitewashing. I used a red Solo cup, because I knew I wasn’t doing a huge space and mixed equal parts white paint and water. Then I used a paint stick to stir together. Starting at the top and working my way down (and in direction of the brick) I brushed the paint on to both the bricks and grout. I worked in one area at a time whitewashing on…and then used a old cloth to dab/wipe off any excess. Wipe on. Wipe off. Repeating until I reached the bottom and the whole thing was washed.

See. Easy Peasy. I know tackling a permanent fixture in your house can be daunting, but if you are looking to transform your fireplace this truly is a simple DIY. I encourage you to take the plunge. And if you have any question, please ask!

Whitewashed Fireplace

Here is a little before and after.

Painted Fireplace Before and After

And here is a look at our whole living room! (Don’t you love that kid ride on toy accent!) 

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