Painted Fireplace

So, while Joe was in Ukraine, I decided I needed a project.  Something to do after the kids went to bed and I was by myself. :)

I got inspiration from my "bffs" John and Sherry (they just don't know we're friends :)).  I followed their fireplace painting tutorial (found here).

Here was our living room fireplace before we started...

After Ezra went to bed one evening, I let Avery help me start the project.

First, we swept and wiped down all the brick on the fireplace as well as the wood mantle.

Then, we painted!
Avery was SO excited to help paint the fireplace!

I used Olympic Premium No-VOC semi-gloss paint in off-the-shelf white.  I used the same brand primer, but only for the mantle.  I didn't prime the brick.  I also didn't caulk any cracks in the brick because they were few, far between, and very small.  So we just got right to painting!

The above picture shows one coat on the section I was doing... it covered really well.  Once I let it dry overnight, it soaked in a bit.  I would do another coat the next night.  I did 3 coats total.

Here is the finished product!

I decided to put more pops of color on the mantle. :)

The room looks so much brighter just with this change!

I painted the mantle white just like the brick... because I like the seamless look to it all.  I do wish I had painted the bit of trim on the sides of the fireplace... but they go right into the trim around the room and I assumed I would paint that all together.  It'll happen sometime. :)

Painting all the trim in our house white will be a feat... but we'll get there. :)

Now the living room just needs new paint, new floors, white painted trim, and art/pictures! :)