The fireplace is a great feature for this investment property but needed a bit of an update. With a little paint, stain and spray paint, the oak mantel, brick and fireplace doors took on a new look. This is the fireplace before any updates.
FIREPLACE DOOR
There are no other brass or gold features in the property, so the brass on this fireplace door was not in keeping with the rest of the metal features. I taped off the brick and glass and painted the brass frame with Krylon High Heat Max in matte black.
BRICK
This brick is in great shape and just needed a color-refresh. I brushed off any loose dirt and took a vacuum to the surface to collect any loose particles. I created a “wash” using about a 40%-50% paint to water ratio. Using a worn paint brush, I tested the color on the side of the fireplace. I essentially needed to play with applying various amounts of paint to the brick for the desired look. I found dry brushing the paint worked well. In the end, I mixed two colors— one, that was mostly white (the ceiling paint, SW Alabaster) mixed with a small amount of black (interior door paint), Limousine Leather, Behr); two, same colors with more black.
MANTEL
After the brick was dry, I sanded the mantel to the bare wood and prepped for sanding (cleaning the surface of the wood and taping off the surrounding surfaces). I used Varathane Wood Stain, Worn Navy. This is the first time I used this color stain. The kitchen cabinets in the adjoining room have blue lower cabinets. The stain had only an undertone of blue which made it very interesting. I used poly to finish it off.
This was a simple project that totally updated the room. I updated the base moulding with 4 1/2 inch straight edge wood, replaced the carpet, removed the popcorn ceiling and painted the walls as well — all lending to the new look of the room.
