25 Jul Whitewashed Fireplace With Chalkpaint

Often times when I get inspired, I just jump right into something and start doing it. Well, that’s what happened with our fireplace last Fall. You see, Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday to decorate for and I could not wait to decorate our fireplace since it’s the first home we’ve owned that has one. I had finished painting the walls in the room a nice grey but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with the fireplace. Should I keep it the natural brick color? Should I paint it or whitewash it? I knew at the very least, I had to update the brass doors to black to give it a more updated look so I started there.

First, I removed the doors and then taped them and spray painted them with heat-safe spray paint.

Once I removed the doors, I realized how badly the fireplace needed to be cleaned. We hadn’t used it since we moved in so had no idea what was behind those doors. Yikes!

If you decide to clean your fireplace and it looks anything like this… be sure to wear a mask, eye protection and gloves – oh and crack a window or door too. Once, I started scooping the bulk of that mess into a trash bag it was getting all over the place so the protective gear was quite helpful. After scooping, I vacuumed the remainder of dust and then scrubbed it down.

Doing all this got me thinking about whitewashing the brick. I like the natural brick but it felt a bit dated so I turned to Pinterest for some inspiration and found several whitewashed fireplaces that gave me the motivation to try it.

I thought about the white paint that we had on hand. I had latex and chalk as my options and decided to go with chalk. I mixed 1 part Annie Sloan Chalk Paint with 1 part water and tried it out first in an area where no one would see. I loved it immediately and kept going with it. I loved how the brick showed just enough through the paint to give it more of a natural look. The chalk paint also really seems to help keep it looking more natural with its chalky finish. If you decide to do this, make sure you have plenty of paper towels on hand to wipe up drips on the floor or other areas.

You may be asking what happened to the doors. Well, we still have them. They’re painted but currently being stored in the event that we may need them again. I loved the way the fireplace looked without them!

Here’s a before and after from the same angle.

And this, my friends, was my motivation for updating our fireplace – decorating for Christmas! 🙂