Finished Painted Fireplace

Yes! I was finally able to get the photos of the finished fireplace loaded. Everything is moving slowly today.

Well, the final results of the fireplace made the client very happy. And for me, well, I was a little hesitant at first because I wasn’t sure where it would lead us.

The first two photos are of the living room side of the fireplace. Take a close look at the mortar. Can you imagine it being solid black? That is what it was. I really think that this is an option that should be considered before a homeowner were to tear down an existing fireplace. What is the worst that could happen if you were going to do a teardown anyway?

In progress:

The photo showing the entire fireplace is such a dramatic change from the original. Many times there really isn’t anything wrong with the color of the brick, it is the mortar chosen.

Going around the corner of the fireplace you walk into the dining room and voila! The painted side.

It was a little difficult trying to make up samples. And it wasn’t just for the client’s sake but for mine as well. I am not fond of getting into something and playing around with it while actually on the surface. However, with this I still needed to make adjustments as I went along because there weren’t any spare bricks to use for making samples. This is why I was a bit hesitant to start. This side I did a little more to it than just paint it. I applied a little texture material to the face of each brick. Then I used a primer called Styx to help the paint to adhere properly. I covered the whole surface with it, kind of scrubbing it into nooks and crannies.

After drying thoroughly I applied a white basecoat. I don’t very often use white as a basecoat actually. In this case not only was my client very specific as to what color she wanted used, but also, it worked better because I was able to use a shade or two deeper than I would have ordinarily. And that allowed for the color that landed in the nooks to show up better, giving a chance for more texture to show. The closeup photo shows this very well.

And standing back you get the overall look. Rather elegant don’t you think? Client was pleased. I was definitly pleased. They are planning on putting a new mantle up. They are holding off because they are planning a major kitchen remodel and that whole space will be opened up. So the choice of which style of mantle will wait until they get into that. Wise move, I think.

I hope you have found this to be informative or even just interesting.

Hope everyone has been having a good week and I’m hoping for a great weekend!
Doris