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How to Patch & Paint a Brick Fireplace: Our Green Fireplace Makeover

June 24, 2020 by Cassie 19 Comments

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How to Patch & Paint a Brick Fireplace: Our Green Fireplace Makeover

I promised you that I would break down our color blocked family room reveal into smaller bite-sized DIY tutorials since we did a few projects in that space. Today I am sharing the first of those projects, our green fireplace makeover.  This project was one that Chris and I worked on together since it involved some heavy lifting as well as priming and painting brick which is no easy feat when you are doing it by hand. Honestly though, don’t be discouraged… it’s definitely not too challenging and easily doable by one person!  I just used my resources. 😉 Let’s get right into it today! (This post uses affiliate links.  I earn a small commission on qualifying purchases made through these links.)

DIY Painted Brick Fireplace

Let me refresh your memory with where this fireplace started… (Listing photo)

#that60srancher family roomIt was dated, I really despised the mantle corbels and the decorative screen. It had a very weird traditional country vibe to it that just wasn’t me. When Frogtape invited me to be a part of their Paintover, I was excited to finally turn this room and fireplace into something I would be proud of.

Prepping and Patching  Your Brick Fireplace

To prepare the fireplace for painting, we removed the mantle as well as our TV which we had mounted there when we moved in.  After everything was removed, we had several screw holes to fill in the masonry.

To patch holes in masonry for painting:

  • First, use a wire brush to clean any dirt or debris from brick and vacuum it up.
  • Use a masonry sealant to fill holes.  I like a tube like this one because you can just squeeze it in.
  • After filling in the hole, smooth it out.  Because brick is a rough surface, I find that using a finger works better than any tool.
  • Allow it to dry according to the manufacturer’s directions, and then you are ready for the next step!

Below you can see all of the spots that we had filled because they are light gray compared to the color of the brick and mortar.

Priming Your Brick Fireplace

Once you’ve patched all of your holes and cleaned off your fireplace, you’re ready to prime.

  • Tape off any areas that you don’t want paint to hit.  Our fireplace doesn’t have any molding around the base (I think the previous owners DIYed the flooring and left out this detail, and we haven’t gotten there yet.) Tape off fireplace floor
  • Protect your floor with drop cloths or protective pads from Frogtape.  I loved these smaller green pads because they helped us get in these corners. fireplace painting prep
  • Using an angled brush, apply masonry primer to your fireplace.  As I mentioned, we were working together so I literally painted a line down the middle and told Chris to prime his side and I would do mine.  It was much easier than getting in each other’s way. priming fireplace
  • Once it is fully covered, allow to dry for 24 hours before painting. By the way, you can see some holes left on the brick.  We didn’t worry about all of the holes because we knew that art would hide those.Primed Fireplace

Painting Your Brick Fireplace

You’ve prepped and primer, and now it’s time for the fun part… paint!  I was so excited to add some color to our brick fireplace! If you’ve prepared your fireplace properly, you can use regular interior grade house paint.  We chose Sherwin Williams Emerald satin finish in Secret Garden.  This green had the moodiness I wanted but also the earthy undertones.  And I liked the name. 😉

brick fireplace paint

  • Just as with priming, I find an angled brush works best to apply your fireplace paint.  We once again split the job in two and I painted on one side and Chris did the other.  Painting brick by hand is not hard at all, but it’s time consuming, so that helped our efficiency. How to paint a fireplace
  • When it came to painting a darker green over the white, I found that we needed a couple of coats of paint.  We applied two solid coats, and then I went over and touched up some spots to finish it off. Painting brick fireplace

 Enjoy!

Once it’s dry and has cured for 24-48 hours, you can decorate and have fun with your painted fireplace! Green Painted Fireplace

As you may have noticed, we do not currently have a mantle.  We do have kids though, and we will need a mantle with stockings this Christmas! I wanted to share with you what our plans are in that regard. I absolutely love the minimal vibe that it has right now, but those stockings are crucial.

Modern color block wall in family room

The old mantle shelf is made of solid wood and actually in great shape.  The things I don’t like about it are the finish and the brackets.  We can easily salvage and reuse the mantle, which is a relief to your budget and to my soul.  I plan to sand it down to a raw finish, then refinish it, or just wax it.  Because we prefer the more modern look, we plan to buy this floating mantle bracket, which is similar to the floating shelf brackets we used in our kitchen.  It should be relatively easy to attach and install.  I opted not to try to do it for the Paintover challenge because we had to work with the limited budget of $500 and the bracket alone costs over $120.  I didn’t want to use a large chunk of the budget on that.  Also, because I was on a very strict timeline, I was afraid it wouldn’t arrive in time, but now we have yet another project to look forward to. 😉

Well, there you have project one of a few from my Frogtape Paintover challenge!  Next up will be the DIY wall hanging that Emmy and I created collaboratively, and then how to paint paneled walls, followed by a detailed color block tutorial.  If you are interested in seeing how I did the colorblocking now, you can actually get a quick step guide over at Frogtape.

DIY Fireplace Makeover

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Filed Under: family room, Living Room, making our home, Mantle, My House

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Comments

  1. Lisa Capasso says

    June 24, 2020 at 5:43 am

    this looks great! I love the colorblocking on the walls with it.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 26, 2020 at 1:57 pm

      Thank you so much, Lisa! It was a fun project to get me thinking creatively again!

      Reply
  2. carmen says

    June 24, 2020 at 11:53 am

    looks awesome!! Love the color.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 26, 2020 at 1:56 pm

      Thank you so much, Carmen!

      Reply
  3. Jamie says

    June 24, 2020 at 3:03 pm

    Love this, Cassie! How did you paint the angled part? Or perhaps this is in another post? Great job!!
    Hugs, Jamie

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 26, 2020 at 1:56 pm

      Hi Jamie! Do you mean the curved color blocking part? I am assuming that- just want to make sure I am giving you the right answer! You can find a quick bulleted tutorial on Frogtape here, but I will be writing a more detailed one here in the future.

      Reply
  4. [email protected] says

    June 25, 2020 at 10:18 am

    It was a big job and you guys did awesome. It transformed the entire space. SO GOOD

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 26, 2020 at 1:54 pm

      Thank you so much, Julia! I need to get our mantle refinished this summer!

      Reply
  5. Shelley Westerman says

    June 26, 2020 at 9:12 am

    I love this project so much. Such a great color, and it’s totally your style now!

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 26, 2020 at 1:54 pm

      Thank you so much, Shelley!

      Reply
  6. Kathryn Baugher says

    June 27, 2020 at 9:30 am

    This is so creative Cassie! Y’all did an amazing job.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 27, 2020 at 2:34 pm

      Thank you so much, Kathy!

      Reply
  7. Cathy Clark says

    June 28, 2020 at 9:38 am

    LOVE this all! Great job!
    Where is the buffalo art work from?

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 28, 2020 at 11:33 am

      Thank you so much, Cathy! The buffalo art is from Value City Furniture but it looks like they don’t have it anymore. There’s a place called Great Big Canvas that might be worth checking out.

      Reply
      • Cathy Clark says

        June 28, 2020 at 12:12 pm

        Thank you!!!!

        Reply
  8. Jessica | Petal + Ply says

    July 4, 2020 at 7:51 pm

    The color you chose is perfection! You guys really did a great job with this space.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      July 10, 2020 at 7:31 am

      Thank you, Jessica! I am so happy with it now!

      Reply
  9. page says

    December 16, 2020 at 11:56 am

    wow. this is incredible!!! so good. where did you get the buffalo print?

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      December 18, 2020 at 2:22 pm

      Thank you so much! Can you believe it’s actually from Value City Furniture?

      Reply

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Hi, I’m Cassie!

I believe that you don't have to spend a lot of money to live a beautiful life and be your best self.  Here you will find budget friendly ideas to live happily, healthily, sustainably, and most importantly authentically.  We all get one chance at this life, and this ordinary girl plans to make hers extraordinary. How about you? Read more...
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Hi! I'm Cassie.

Mother, wife, shop owner, blogger, writer, incurable diy-er, furniture painter, coffee and wine drinker, friend. Seeking happiness and passing it on. Read More…

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