Revamping a painted brick fireplace

I alluded to the fireplace in a earlier post, and I wanted to fully explain what we did, because I am so pumped about it! When you walk into the house, the fireplace is the first thing that you see. But it wasn't much of a focal point because it was painted the same color as the walls. (Why do people paint a fireplace in the first place??) However, it was a huge plus that the brick wasn't crumbling; it was still very sturdy and retained its shape. It also had a great wood piece as the mantle. But it needed some sprucing up.

While I wish I could take credit for the idea, it was Justin's brain that figured this one out. He thought of using a small roller with a brick-color paint to roll on the surface. Doing it this way, the white paint left in the grooves just looked like the mortar. Amazing idea! So on Saturday, grandma took this on as her project. She worked on rolling the paint, Brandywine from Sherwin-Williams HGTV line, onto the surface and used a small sponge brush to trim around the edges. And I have to say, I think it looks good. With the updated wall color, the pop of the "bricks," and a clean white mantel, we now have a focal point.

Still to come, we want to replace the tiles on the floor with maybe some interesting mosaic, and actually get some deco on the mantel too. In the finished picture below we still have plastic down from painting the floors, and no furniture in.

The only downside this project is that it is a gas fireplace, and some crazy person put the turn-on valve on the inside. So who knows if we will actually get to use it... but at least it looks good for now!