Thursday, May 16, 2013

DIY After: Spray Painting The Fireplace

As many of you know, our lakehouse living room is in dire need of a makeover. We've been here just under a year and have had so much (life) going on that renovations had to put on hold.

But last week, I couldn't deal with my living room anxiety anymore, I needed to make at least one change, because with as much work as I do from home, that is the room that mocks me daily with it's screaming 70s fireplace, salmon carpeting, asymmetrical built-in bookcase and walls that need painting so badly.

So I took one baby step. I spray painted the brass surround. Is that what it's called? The ugly brass/gold thing in front that has doors? For the life of me, I can't figure out what to call those doors... (I also see fingerprints and dog drool, hi, welcome to my home.)


As usual, the prep work took the longest. All the taping etc. but it's definitely worth it, because if I had gotten spray paint on the brick, I would have died. Well, maybe not, but you know what I'm saying.

See? Do you see the "face?" I am going to take a sledge hammer to those cutouts one day! Okay, so I taped and then scratched up the surface with sandpaper.


Used the special high-heat spray paint...


And ta-dah! It's a million times better!


Up next? Husband and I are painting the walls...



13 comments:

Sarah Baird said...

The fireplace looks great! I've just discovered the wonderful world of spray painting. I spray painted some of our picture frames white. It was so much easier than painting them with a brush! What color paint do you think you are going to go with for the walls?

Mindy said...

Wahoo, progress!!! I know how good that feels when you've been staring at something you hate every day. Can't wait to see the wall color.

Unknown said...

Very nice! I have a fireplace brass thingy too! This is a great idea. Thanks for sharing....I'm also in midst of house renovation....crazy times

Sabrina said...

OH Wow, that is amazing. Brass can be such a pain to keep together. Thanks for finding me on SITS

Suzanne said...

We're going with something called "Creamy Pebbles." I like to call it a putty color. It's definitely neutral!

Suzanne said...

Progress is such a good thing. I'll be sure to post the results!

Suzanne said...

Hi Julia, I cannot even tell you how much better I feel when I look at the fireplace, it's such an improvement already.

Suzanne said...

Hi Sabrina, I enjoyed that tweet about Abercrombie & Fitch. I'm following you on Twitter now!

Dana @ Kiss my List said...

My fireplace is already black, but there are two strips of brass at the top of the glass doors that I hate. I'm going to try this high heat spray paint and cover it up - thank you for the inspiration!

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

I cannot blame you for hating your fireplace's brass surround because of its outdated look. By the way, though it sometimes takes more time than the actual painting, it's good that you taped the newspapers around the area to avoid paint getting on your walls and also onto the glass of the enclosing. And what can I say, your fireplace look a lot better after painting it. Congratulations! I hope you do the same with your chimney, which is important to stay in good condition.
Peter & Greg Walker Contracting Inc.

Suzanne said...

Oh we make sure to get our chimney cleaned too! Thanks for dropping by!

Suzanne said...

A friend said "call me when you have the first fire and tell me if that paint worked!" It did!

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