This was hands-down one of the most tedious and time-consuming paint projects I have taken on in this house to date, yet will most likely prove to be one of the most rewarding. It wasn’t a quick little paint job like my bedroom closet or the laundry room like I first had in mind. Well actually, I think I may have known deep down inside that it would be a bit of a feat, that’s probably why it has taken me this long to finally get the job done, even though it was one of the very first things I absolutely knew I wanted to do upon moving in almost two years ago. All the deep grooves around every single brick had to be hand-painted with a 1-inch brush since the roller just couldn’t get deep enough in there to get them covered, even when using the “extra-rough texture” roller. So yeah, wrist-cramp anyone? But I’m not complaining, I am more than thrilled with the results!
As I mentioned in this post, the fireplace, located centrally within the house in the kitchen, was a very dark, “energy-sucking doo doo brown” I believe is exactly how I worded it. Here’s how the fireplace looked before:
You can see how all the Christmas decorations just blend into the dark, brown backdrop, creating a muddled arrangement instead of a bright and poppy one. I first toyed with the idea of painting the fireplace red since I intend to paint the kitchen walls robins-egg blue, and I really love a pale blue and red color combination, but decided against it since red is also quite energy-sucking and wouldn’t adapt as well with the changing seasons and correlating decorum the way a more neutral white would. Also, my eyes and my heart just kept going back to all of the white brick fireplaces I’ve seen and imagined, and have absolutely swooned over. So white (off-white, Behr’s “Creamy White” to be exact) it went, not without first getting a good cleaning with the assistance of my best little helper of course:
… and also getting a coat of primer to make sure the white paint didn’t just get absorbed right into the underlying brown paint:
Here’s a close-in detailed shot to show you just how deep the grooves around the bricks really are:
And here it is after two days of about ten man-hours later in all of its whitewashed glory:
Not the greatest after/final reveal photograph, but it was late when I finally got it done and was eager to get this posted. Olive and I have already gotten it all dressed and gussied up for the upcoming Halloween festivities, and I am more than enamored with how much more light and airy the room feels from making this one simple change!
Linked to:
Nice change:)