Updated Brick Fireplace

There were many hours I stared at our brick fireplace in our living room, contemplating should I or should I not paint it. Do you ever feel that way about your ugly fireplace staring back at you?

In our last house I painted our red brick grey and a part of me just didn't want to do that with this house.  I had seen on the Fixer Upper show the German Smear, thought this technique might be what I should do. It gives texture and not the painted look. As I was searching the web, I came across limewash. Many mentioned that it was really easy to do and it resembled the german smear, ok this peeked my interest.

This is the Limewash product called Romabio which can be found at Homedepot. You'll have to order it online since they don't stock it in store. It came in less than a week's time.

Since it was the new year and projects were happening, this was one project I just couldn't wait to get checked off my list. 

Here's my supplies; all of this was ordered online at Home Depot

1.  Sponge
2. Plastic bucket 2 (one for the limewash, one for water)
3. Masonry Brush
4. Romabio Blanco Limewash 1 qt
5. Tape
6. paint drop cloth
7.  Stir Stick
8. Cleaning brush
9. vinegar

First step is to wash your brick. I used a spray bottle with vinegar and water in it. Sprayed it on,  then I used the cleaning brush to get soot and other dirt off. Grabbed an old towel and dried it off.

Next get your bucket add the water and limewash together. I used a stir stick to mix it. If you have something more powerful than what I suggest, definitely use that. It's hard to get all of it mixed up by just stirring. It can be done but it's a little tough.

Its going to be a watery mixture, definitely not the same consistency of a latex paint. Use the masonry brush and paint it all over the fireplace. I started at the bottom and worked up. Once I painted up to the mantle I then stopped  began removing off some of the wash using the spray bottle and sponge. I did dump my vinegar water mixture to just water. 

Friends, I was shocked at the difference this was making so far. I loved how the grey was popping through. You'll find when your painting on the wash you'll want to put it on thick. I made the mistake of putting it on thin and as I finished it I noticed it had a pink undertone to it since the brick was seeping through. This was not what I was looking for. Pink in a room that I'm wanting pink ok, but my fireplace no.

I let it sit over night so I can look at it in the morning. They say you have 4 days before the limewash sets. This allows you time to add more or take away.

Well I was exhausted after the first coat but the perfectionist in me led me to do another coat. One problem, I only had about 1 pint of wash left. Not enough to do another coat. So this meant go buy more. I hate that! Don't you? You budget for so much and then your spending more.  You remember when I said it takes 4-5 days to cure, well now the time to order from Home Depot and wait for it to come in was a problem. So the only thing I knew to do, was go online to Romabio's website and look to see where else I could buy it. Can you believe it, I so lucked out there was a distributor right here in Austin! Thank you Lord! So I made a quick call to see if a second coat was needed.  

So friends, I did a second coat. Here's a picture of it. I'm glad I did it, it was worth it. Do you see something else that's different?

I polled my Instagram followers if I should change the mantle color and they all agreed grey or natural wood. I didn't have a natural wood mantle so I painted it grey. I'm loving that too.

I also painted the wall where the window is and moved my curtains up higher. If you interested in my curtains you can find it in the post No Paint Necessary Curtains.  All these changes have me loving my space again. We moved in about a little over a year ago and the fireplace just kept me from really loving it. This space brings a smile to my face every morning as I come down to get my coffee. Not having the red has lightened it up significantly.

So to sum this up, I highly recommend getting rid of the red brick and changing it to a lighter color.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Helping you have a welcoming home,