Brick Pick

One of the things that initially drew us to our house was the gas fireplace.  We love the idea of a blazing fire—especially at the flip of a switch (or in our case, a knob at the base of our fireplace).  We’re pretty sure that it used to be a real fireplace, but was later converted to gas.  And despite the controversy over gas vs. real, I, for one, think that we will be more likely to use a gas fireplace, as they are convenient and clean (Matt does enjoy starting a good fire from scratch, though, so we might have slightly different opinions on the issue).  Sadly, it doesn’t really matter, since we cannot get the fireplace to light at the moment.  We’ve done a bit of digging around, and we eventually found the original manufacturer of our gas fireplace parts; however, even after emailing them photos of the whole set-up, they were not able to find replacement parts.  Maybe they’re no longer made?  If you know anything about R.H. Peterson fireplaces, we are looking to replace some parts (the fire safety starter kit which includes the pilot light and thermal coupling).  If that doesn’t work out, we’ll probably end up getting a whole new gas set-up, but we’d like to do it as cheaply as possible—hence, the digging around for parts.

But since we’ve recently been talking paint, we thought we should give you the rundown on painting our fireplace brick.  At first, we debated over whether or not it was worth it, as original brick is a selling point for a lot of people; while we’re not looking to sell our house anytime soon, we’re aware that the choices we make now may have repercussions (although hopefully good ones!) down the road.  Then we swung in the opposite direction, thinking that we should do what we like, since we’re the ones living with it, and who really cares what future buyers might think?  After considering both sides, we landed somewhere in the middle.  Why can’t we have the best of both worlds, after all?  So we grabbed our brushes and went to town painting the brick, knowing that we would love it (score!) and hoping that future buyers who are interested in our house like our style enough that they’ll be happy with painted brick (bonus!).

A few things to keep in mind when painting brick:

1.) Look at pictures of painted brick (there are tons of images online) to figure out what you like.  We love a light and airy feel, but there are lots of ideas to choose from—click here and here to see a few of our favorites.

2.) Make sure you start with a clean surface.  There is nothing worse than gunking up your paint with dirt and soot.

3.) Using a brush or roller, prime the brick first, as it tends to be an absorbent surface.  I prefer a brush, since it nicely fills the grooves in brick.

4.) Layer on the paint thickly—again, so that it doesn’t get absorbed by the brick.  Paint several coats if necessary.

5.) We chose a glossy paint (the same kind that we used for our floor trim), that way the brick is smooth and easy to wipe down, plus it should hold up better if we ever do have a fire in said fireplace.  And there you have it—easy peasy!  Honestly, I was a little freaked out to make such a permanent move, but now I can’t imagine our fireplace any other way.  As the focal point in our living room, it was a cheap and quick project that completely changed the space.  Oh, and just in case you were curious, we removed the old mesh screen (it found a new home at the Restore) with a few quick turns of the screwdriver, and thanks to Craigslist (gotta love it), we replaced it with a simple portable screen that doesn’t feel quite so heavy.