Give Your Brick Fireplace a Facelift

Photo by Ale Gianetti Nelson

Not all home makeovers call for an interior designer. Some, even large projects, can be tackled by the homeowner.

Giving your home a facelift with a new look for the old fireplace is one project most homeowners would be afraid to tackle.

But it can be done if you take it step by step.

Did you update your bathroom? Revamp your kitchen? Install new flooring? I would love to share your project, big or small! Send me what you did and my editorial team will consider it for our series.

Most homes built around 70s and 80s usually have fireplaces with bricks varying in color from orangey-red to black-brown-red. Automatically, it makes the room look dated and drab.

One quick fix is to whitewash the fireplace — it instantly makes the room look light and bright. However, it’s time consuming and can be a bit frustrating depending on how porous or dark your fireplace is. But it’s definitely doable!

One motivated home owner turned his fireplace from this

To this:

Here’s how they did it:

They mixed together equal parts of white latex paint and water and stirred and then covered up everything in my living room that they didn’t want to get paint on, grabbed a sponge and a rag, and went to work.

Then they sponged the mixture on the bricks, making sure to dab the drips with the rag. They let it all rest a day to allow the brick time to absorb the paint. The brick absorbs a lot of paint — so much that a second coat was needed. When it was done drying the second time, it looked too uniform, so out comes the sander for a few areas.

What do you think? Would you whitewash your fireplace?

Ale Gianetti Nelson is an Interior Designer who lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina.