Prep the fireplace for paint

Last weekend was so busy. We had two basketball games, two soccer conditioning sessions, a birthday party/gender reveal party to attend and I had a soccer mom trip to Dayton to schedule games for my son’s soccer team. In between all of that, I opted to tackle the fireplace. Much like the paneling needed prep work, we also need to prep the fireplace for paint.

Clean the fireplace

I am not the type of housekeeper who washes her brick fireplace. Are you? If you are, my hat is off to you. I’m more of a declutter and if you don’t put your fingers in my dust no one will see it kind of housekeeper. All of that is the long winded way of saying I had to wash the fireplace before I could paint it.

I used this stuff again.

With a fireplace, soot & smoke can make the bricks quite dirty. Dirty bricks won’t take paint easily. That means I had to become the type of girl who washes her fireplace. NEVER thought I’d say that.

I sprayed the TSP all over and used a scrub brush to rough up the surface a bit. I was surprised by the amount of brick dust. Seriously? Brick dust?! I can’t believe my dusty nemesis comes in so many forms. The garden variety all over my furniture is more than enough dust for my taste. Sadly, with all the work I’m doing, it has called in its remodeling buddies: drywall dust, sanding dust and now brick dust. Jeez… I’ll probably need a new vacuum from all of this. I’m sure the upgrades will be worth it.

Prime the bricks

After vacuuming the brick dust, I put a coat of primer on the bricks.

I have to say, I REALLY liked the rustic look. My husband did not. And it turns out, that’s for the best because I had already trimmed out the top of the fireplace and that white stripe would have driven me crazy.

Painting bricks requires a special roller cover for rough surfaces. Even with it, you’ll find gaps in coverage (which created the rustic look above). Andy and I found that we needed a little more pressure to get the coverage we desired. It also required painting the mortar with a brush.

Thankfully, we were able to get full coverage.

This photo is just primer but I think you’ll agree the look is so fresh, bright and clean! Eeek!!! I love it! I’m excited to keep going! A full paint job will look amazing!

As is normal here, we ran into challenges to overcome. Those corbels… We couldn’t get them off and after trying that, we couldn’t get them back on. I’ll keep you posted on how we overcome that little adventure.

Next up is the cabinets/bookcases next to the fireplace.

xoxo

Donna

I love having you on the road with me