Easy Fireplace Makeover - Design by Made In Casita

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Here is a quick and easy fireplace makeover tutorial. We hope you enjoy!

graywash brick fireplace makeover stained mantle farmhouse decor — Before

Today we will be talking about Fireplaces!!! How romantic ❤️! I don’t know about you, but when I think about fireplaces it invokes thoughts of warmth, coziness, even sensual thoughts, depending on the mood 😉. Beyond those sentiments, they can be a major focal point or a major eyesore in your home, depending on the current status. In my own home, we were fortunate enough to have a floor to ceiling brick gas burning fireplace; it just wasn’t my taste. It was in good shape but the brick color was a maroon and brown mix that was not working for me.

So, guess what? Yeap, I had my dear Marido, (husband) take care of that! (I did help too :p). First, we decided on simply doing a facelift to the fireplace by doing a grey-wash to the brick and staining the mantel. This is how we did it and what we used to upgrade our fireplace for cheap.

Materials:

Gray Paint
Sponges: to retouch missed spots.
Cheap Paintbrushes (you will go through them pretty quickly)
Plastic: To cover the carpet/floors
Bucket: For cleanup
Stain of choice. We used Minwax dark walnut
Spray paint: For the face front of the gas insert, we used black spray paint rated for 2000 degrees. *Note: it must be heat resistant*

What we did:

As usual Safety First!. Always have the right protective gear and how to properly operate the necessary tools for this and every other project.

Step 1

We prepared the area by covering the floors with plastic and the walls and mantle with painter’s tape. Then we proceeded with a half paint half water mixture. The more water the more translucent the coverage will be.

Step 2

With the brush, we applied the watered-down paint mixture in a dabbing type of application instead of regular up and down or side to side brush strokes. We used the sponge to dab over and cover any spots that the brush didn’t reach. We did only 1 coat since we still wanted some of the darker bricks to show through.

Step 3

We stained the mantle with Minwax dark walnut stain using old rags (my excuse for getting rid of my husband’s old t-shirts). Then let it dry. We also had a piece of trim all the way butting to the ceiling that my awesome husband climbed up the ladder and stained as well.

Step 4

We spray painted the brass insert face of the fireplace and removed the tape and plastic.

fireplace insert graywash brick fireplace

And voila! A totally different look to an old fireplace. I must say the hardest part of this project was seeing the love of my life way high up there facing his fear of heights just for me.