Last week I posted some fireplace makeovers that may inspire you to throw (or rather brush) some paint over your fireplace bricks to give the room a nice CLEAN look.
And some of you are probably SCARED to do that. I know, I know, it’s a SIN to paint brick, right?!
Well, I love to break the rules! You should buy/do/have whatever makes YOU happy. But for those of you that aren’t ready to take that plunge, I offer up this more natural option:
WHITEWASH those bricks!
It’s not complicated. You just mix water and white paint (or I suppose you could do gray or tan, but would that still be called WHITEwash?! hmm…). Use whatever ratio you want depending on how transparent you want it to be. 3-4 parts water to 1 part paint would be a good place to start.
Then apply to your fireplace. Try rollers, brushes, rags…whatever works for you!
Here’s a great example of what I forced inspired my mom to do at her house:
Here it is BEFORE (cute room despite the dated fireplace brick, right?):
DURING: Whitewashing in process–
Time to take a step back and decide if you want to do another coat or make the mix thicker–
Whitewashing Complete…now we just need to help her cover those floor tiles with some nice concrete! (of course)
I think it keeps the CHARM of the original brick but tones it down so it’s not an eye sore.
And here are a couple of other GREAT examples of white-washing. (I guess the secret is out that I didn’t invent the idea!):
What do you think? Would you dare touch your fireplace brick??
Know anyone that has been talking about fireplace updates? Please SHARE!
Dave and Kelly Davis 