Give your dated brick fireplace a new look! Lighten up with an all-white look, go for the rich look of gray, or bring a pop of color with a bold blue. Whatever color you choose, here’s how to give your old fireplace a modern makeover with a fresh coat of paint.

An Affordable (and Easy!) Weekend Project

Painting a brick fireplace is a low-cost, high-impact way to breathe new life into a living space. Most older fireplaces are prime candidates for a new look -- just make sure your brick isn’t chipped, deteriorating, or moldy.

Materials for Painting Your Brick Fireplace

• A good quality roller cover suited for the texture of the surface you’re covering. Typically a brick fireplace will require a 1 ¼” nap roller cover.
• A good quality synthetic brush for use to prime and paint between the brick. 1-2 gallons of water-based, stain blocking primer. Our Sure Grip Interior/Exterior Acrylic Latex Primer or OmniPrep Universal Interior/Exterior Primer is perfect for this type of project.
• 1-2 gallons of high-quality, latex interior paint. Ask your Diamond Vogel representative for suggestions based on your desired outcome.
• A non-sudsying cleaner. We recommend Great Lakes Extra Muscle. Mix it according to label instructions. After cleaning, rinse well with clean water.
• Rags, Scrub Brush and Wire Brush for cleaning
• Drop Cloth, Masking Tape, and Masking Paper or Plastic to protect furniture, floors and other areas you don’t want to paint.
• Acrylic Caulk to repair cracks

Once you’ve visited your local Diamond Vogel Paint Store and gathered all your supplies, you’ll be set for a no-fuss project with major wow-factor.

Tips for Painting Your Fireplace

1. The most important part of this project? Elbow grease! Cleaning the surface is the most important step for any DIY paint project -- paint will adhere much better without lingering dirt. Give the bricks a good scrub using the Extra Muscle cleaner mixed according to label directions. Loosen the tough soot or efflorescence (the white crumbly residue that can appear on brick surfaces) using the scrub brushes or wire brush, and then wipe clean with rags. Pay attention for any lingering cobwebs. Rinse the surface with clean water. Spot a few small cracks? Repair with acrylic caulk.
2. Prime it! Wait 24 hours after cleaning your fireplace. Then, lay down your drop cloth, grab your roller, and get to priming. This will help cover troublesome soot stains. For the hard-to-reach grout crevices or areas between the bricks, use a paint brush. Wait 24 hours to allow the primer to trap any stains, then apply another coat of primer.
3. Once the primed coat is dry and your roller is ready, it’s time for the last step! Depending on how porous your fireplace is (spoiler: brick is pretty porous!), you’ll need one to three coats.