How To Clean Your Brick Fireplace Before Whitewashing

I bet you never realized simply how easy it is to whitewash a brick fireplace. It's a unproblematic DIY that y'all can do in an afternoon - peculiarly with this quick and easy whitewashing technique.

Easily Update an Outdated Room

Elementary updates tin totally transform the look of any space. When a fireplace is the focal point of a living room, it tin can be a major eyesore if it doesn't fit with the manner of the infinite.

Red brick fireplaces can await admittedly stunning and classic in the right room, but in this living room, the richness of the color was detracting from the terminate goal of a bright and blusterous vibe.

Tile, Whitewash or Pigment?

While I would accept preferred to tile over the brick fireplace with a pretty marble tile, at this indicate in time it was neither in our upkeep nor our basic DIY skillset. In the finish, it came down to choosing betwixt a coat of whitewash or painting the brick fireplace white.

Since I wanted to keep some of the texture of the brick, I decided that white washing information technology was a expert idea. Plus, if I didn't similar it, it would exist easy to just pigment it 1 color. If I painted it opaque to start with, I couldn't practice the reverse!

Deciding on painting versus whitewashing really depends on how much you want the brick to bear witness through. If you want to completely hide the ruby brick, painting it would be an option, if you notwithstanding want some of the red/brown hues to come through, so white washing is a good choice.

What You'll Demand To Whitewash Brick

• Paint brush
• White paint (any sheen except loftier gloss)
• Rags
• Tarps
• teaspoon
• Potent bristled brush
• Painter's tape

Directions

Protect The Area

Embrace the surrounding area with a tarp. Make certain floors are well covered before proceeding. Before painting, apply painter'due south tape where the wall meets the brick, as well as the mantel or any surroundings that you don't want to get paint on.

Clean the Brick

The first thing I needed to do was make clean the brick.  Despite the fireplace not having been used in over xxx years, in that location was a lot of soot caked into the brick.  Using teaspoon diluted in h2o, I scrubbed the brick with a stiff bristled brush and allow it dry out.

Dilute the Paint

I had plenty of one-half-empty cans of white semi-gloss paint lying around the garage then I didn't even demand to buy any supplies. I added water to my can of pigment until information technology had a watery texture. I started out with about half a gallon of paint, and added approximately one and a one-half cups of water to get the right consistency.

Apply The Whitewash

Using a paintbrush, I brushed the white wash onto the brick.  The brick soaked up the color readily. I connected brushing the paint on until I achieve the color depth that I wanted. If y'all apply also much in i area, employ a rag or sponge to soak it upwards. You can also use the rag/sponge to apply more paint to an expanse or keep using the brush.

Don't forget nearly the brick grout! If it's very nighttime gray, you may want to use a finer paintbrush to paint it to achieve a more opaque look.

Using regular semi-gloss paint (that had non been watered down) I also painted the mantel white.

The Event

Doesn't it look so much cleaner and brighter? And it was SO piece of cake to practise!

You will notice that the soot-filled hearth also got a glaze of fresh paint, after beingness scrubbed downwards with TSP. Finally, I replaced the red hearth tile with this soft gray tile that we had left over from our bathroom remodel. This was my start ever experience tiling, and it went much better than I had predictable!

How do you experience about painted brick fireplaces? I know some people take very strong opinions on keeping the natural await of the brick, but I personally love both an opaque and whitewashed expect of painted brick. And I certainly love how this whitewashed brick fireplace turned out!

Other DIY Projects You'll Like

• How To Build A Fireplace Surround

• How to Paint Walls and Trim (Like a Pro!)

• Easy Reclaimed Wood Accent Wall

• DIY Floating Desk and Shelves

Materials

• White paint
• Water
• Paint brush
• Rags
• Drop cloth
• Painter'southward tape

Instructions

1. Add water to the paint. The exact ratio will vary depending on how much yous want the brick to testify through. Our brick was very porous, so one cup to a one-half gallon of pigment seemed to work well.
2. Apply the paint to the brick and mortar using a dappling technique. Brushing won't get you far, you lot need to almost push the paint into the brick. Wipe off any excess with a rag.
3. If you apply likewise much paint, just apply a wet rag to wipe some of information technology off.
4. Do one coat and make up one's mind if you want a second coat. While the brick will readily blot the paint, in one case it dries more of it volition come to the surface.

Source: https://jennakateathome.com/how-to-whitewash-brick-fireplace/

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