Everyone: “How many painted stone fireplaces have you done?”
Me: “Not a lot…if 3 is ‘not a lot.'”
When we moved into our new home, I was very open to any type of change to the stone fireplace. I decided to live with it for a little while and not immediately whip out my paint brush. True story. I lasted *mumbling* 2 1/2 months…
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We didn’t have much furniture after “somebody” sold most of it when we left our farmhouse. {read: somebody is me…no shame here!} But we set about unpacking and living with things as they were. This photo is kinda sad to look back on now. We really didn’t have much going on in our living room.
I even tried to work with it for Christmas, which was only 6 weeks after we moved in.
New Year’s came and then the brutal cold windy weather set in and this happened:
Yes, that is a drop cloth and duct tape. It was my best effort at keeping the draft out of the house.
PROCESS OF OUR PAINTED STONE FIREPLACE
Since we were in the dead of winter and chimney repairs that would take us to the roof were impossible, we stuck to what we could do down here. And that was to cover up the open vents and get some fiberglass insulation in place to block what a missing damper should have been doing.
He used some metal mesh and cement to block the vents and seal the chamber.
And there it sat for a little while longer. My mind kept questioning, “Do you really want another painted stone fireplace?”
Then one day, I just went for it. Why? Because I had everything on hand for this makeover {read: FREE!} and something was better than nothing.
The first step was to remove all of the grime from the chamber and clean off the stone.
Instead of using a bright white, I opted to use Behr Swiss Coffee in flat for our painted stone fireplace. It is the same color that I used in our half-bath/laundry room makeover. {click HERE for that post} Now, in my past painted stone fireplace projects, I used chalk paint. Honestly, I would prefer chalk paint and given the choice, I would choose that again over a water-based latex paint. Either way, both work though; chalk paint is just my personal preference. No matter which pain you use, you’ll still achieve a painted stone fireplace.
There really is no special technique beyond using a crummy brush and lots of smashing it into tiny crevices. Coverage is all you are going for and brush strokes will never show up.
〈FARMHOUSE PAINTED FIREPLACE〉 〈HOW TO WHITEWASH A FIREPLACE〉
It took 3 coats to complete the painted stone fireplace part of the project.
And then two coats of black chalk paint for the inner chamber. {Please note that this is not a functioning fireplace. If it was, I definitely would not paint the inside of a fireplace without consulting a chimney expert.}
At this point, I stepped back to decide which color to paint the hearth and I opted for the swiss coffee paint.
BEHIND THE SCENES:
FIREPLACE AFTER:
Looking back, am I glad that I painted our stone fireplace? You betcha. It brightens up the room tremendously and is no longer a dirty eyesore.
Do you spy another change that has been made to our painted stone fireplace?
Spot it now? No, not the dog. 😉 The mantel! This was a super simple DIY that is coming soon in a blog post.
{Pssst…curious about the sofa? You can get the details HERE. Or digging this rug? Click HERE.}
Do you have a fireplace that makes you cringe? Have you thought about painting it? Hint, hint…maybe you should!
What do you think? Is this what you would have done?
♥ Leigh
FIND MORE OF OUR PROJECTS:
Kitchen Open Shelving: Before and After
Our Vintage Upright Piano and Where We Found It
Why and What: Our New Refrigerator
SHOP THIS LOOK {click an image}:
PIN IT FOR LATER:
Wow! What a huge difference! And love the mantel makeover! 💕
Thank you, Jana! That really made a big difference in this room too. 🙂
Looks fantastic!! Love the new look!
Aww, thank you, Elise!
You gutsy woman!! But it looks so much better being painted instead of leaving it alone. It belonged in the Dark Ages & you brought it back to life. Can’t wait to read about your DIY mantel. I am stuck with mine as I’ve already had someone look at it. And a question, I have been looking for those black candlesticks you have on the mantel. They are very clean & classy looking.
Please let me know!
That is the perfect word picture: Dark Ages fireplace. So absolutely true! Thank you for the encouragement! ♥