How to Whitewash a Dated Brick Fireplace

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:

Fireplace and Living Room BEFORE & AFTER

Our house:

Living Room & Fireplace Remodel.

Here are the BEFORE pics:

I know they are ugly BUT we loved the HUGE window, Large fireplace wall, recessed lighting and endless opportunity!

 

Pretty sad looking, right?!

After some bamboo flooring, paint, new fireplace build out and  glass tile, granite hearth, (oh and we closed up that wall into the 2nd bedroom. Check out what we created!

AFTER: