Check Out These Popular Fireplace Painting Techniques!

If you’re even remotely interested in watching home remodeling shows, chances are you’ve seen your share of  fireplace remodeling projects the DIY teams tackle.  As you know, ripping out the old stone or brick and rebuilding the fireplace with new materials can be costly not to mention the time and mess.  But luckily there’s another option that’s much faster and cheaper.  You guessed it – paint.

Painting your brick fireplace can seem like a daunting task, but it’s not as difficult as you think.  The internet is full DIY bloggers with tutorials on how to paint brick or stone.  Let’s check out 4 of the most popular paint techniques for fireplace remodeling.

Painting a Solid Color

Painting your fireplace a solid color is the easiest and least expensive option for remodeling your outdated brick or stone fireplace.  If you like the solid painted look, you can accomplish this painting project in just a few hours, depending on the size of the area you need to cover.

Whitewashing

Whitewashing your brick or stone fireplace tones down the look of harsh-looking brick or stone and gives a more muted subtle look.  The whitewashed brick look blends easily with every look from farmhouse style to traditional.  While solid fireplace painting involves one solid coat of paint over the brick or stone, whitewashing involves mixing water with latex paint to make a thin paint mixture that is brushed all over the fireplace creating a light coating that allows the bricks or stone to peek through.  While the paint process is similar, the thinner paint solution makes the difference in the final look.

Limewashing

Similar to whitewashing, limewashing brick gives a muted, toned down look to harsh looking brick.  You can purchase a product called Rombino Classico Limewash to do your project.  The process involves diluting the paint with water and applying the solution  with a brush over your brick.  Then, you wipe off some of the paint before it dries completely until you get the look you want. An advantage of using a lime wash is that if you change your mind, the paint can be removed easily up to 5 days.

Brick-Anew Paint Kit

Painting a solid color and whitewashing give a solid painted look.  But what if you want to keep the look of real, natural brick?  No worries.  The Brick-Anew paint kit has everything you need to paint your brick or stone fireplace and get a lighter “real brick” look.  With 3 colors to choose from, the Brick-Anew kit looks totally natural and friends may even think you tore out your old fireplace and rebuilt it with a lighter color brick or stone!  Yep, it looks that good.  The kit comes with 5 shades of paint and all the tools you need to complete the project including brushes, sponge, painter’s tape, gloves, paint tray and rollers.

Choose from:

Twilight Taupe: shades of light taupe, tan, beige and cream.

Misty Harbor: shades of light gray, tan, ivory and dark gray.

Frosted Sunshine: shades of light tan, yellowish cream, and .gray

German Schmear

Last but not least we come to the German Schmear paint technique.  This fireplace remodeling technique got its name from the centuries old cottages and castles in northern Germany with their aged brick and Old World charm.  The process involves mixing pre-made concrete with water to create a thick mixture that you apply over your bricks using a trowel or gloved hand and then wiping some of the bricks before they are dry, removing part of the mixture.  The result is an interesting weathered look.

So…Are you ready to give one of these painting techniques a try? Your old outdated fireplace is probably just begging for a makeover.  Take a chance and you might be surprised at the difference a newly remodeled fireplace makes in your home! For more information, tips, tricks, and advice on fireplace painting ,check out this Ultimate guide for Fireplace Painting.