TUTORIAL: How to Paint an Old Brick Fireplace With Brick Anew
This painted brick fireplace tutorial contains affiliate links for Brick Anew fireplace paint.
When we moved into our old, 1973 house, it didn’t cross my mind that I would one day have to DO something about the ugly brick fireplace that spanned the entire wall. You know what I’m talking about–that wall that sucks the life out of the room….that wall that your eye instinctively travels to each time you entered the room.
That eyesore.
Yeah, exposed brick can be cool, industrial and chic, but in our case, my friend, it just screamed, “This house was built in the 70’s!!!”
It was time to do something about that.
There was nothing attractive or “rustic” about it our fireplace. It leaked air in the colder months (well, um, it still does). And the brick screamed for attention in a room that I wanted to feel light-hearted and neutral.
This, my friends, wasn’t neutral. It was more like an outdated disaster.
Hubby actually liked the brick, but he’s a man, and men are crazy about red brick. I don’t understand that. LOL. But I at least wanted to honor his desire to keep it looking like brick.
So one night I was scanning online at 2 a.m. and I found a fireplace painting kit from (from Brick Anew). I couldn’t find any reviews on it, and honestly, didn’t know if it would work. But considering they had a money-back guarantee, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to at least try it.
It did hurt my pockets, though. At $199, it wasn’t cheap. But calling in a contractor to bust out the wall and put up drywall–sorry–that wasn’t going to happen on our “we-just-bought-a-house-and-we-are-dirt-poor-now” budget.
How to Paint a Brick Fireplace with BEFORE and AFTER Pictures
Materials Needed:
- Brick Anew Fireplace Painting Kit
- Extra paint for large fireplaces
- trisodium phosphate (TSP) or soap and water with a scrub brush for cleaning fireplace
- Drop cloth
- Spray paint (if you’re actively using your fireplace, don’t use spray paint for the surround, which isn’t made for high heat).
- Optional: Black firebox paint to freshen up the inside
STEP 1: Clean the fireplace.
I had ordered the fireplace cleaner from Brick Anew. But really, you could use the TSP, which will work just as well.
It comes with an instructional DVD. I ended up recording the whole process myself for anyone who’s reading this that need that extra help in doing it (see the video tutorial below).
STEP 2: Cover your fireplace with the base color.
The Brick Anew kit comes with a quart of a base coat. If your fireplace is as large as mine (spans the whole wall), plan on getting a second container. I ran out halfway through the project!
Use a paintbrush to cover the entire fireplace in the base coat. It’s your choice whether to do the grout, too. I went ahead and painted mine. It will be all one color.
STEP 3: Paint the fireplace surround.
(FYI: you might want to do this first before using the base coat). I just used black spray paint on mine, but be careful here. If you use your fireplace, it could be dangerous if the heat touches the spray paint. Don’t spray paint INSIDE of the fireplace. Use a black firebox paint that’s specially made for the inside of your fireplace to make it look new again.
STEP 4: Apply the highlights.
Using “Step 2” of the painting kit is basically like applying a highlight to the brick. You know how natural bricks have lighter and darker colors mixed in? That’s sort of what the highlight color will do. If you notice here, you’ll see that the bricks behind me have sections where I just painted on a lighter color.
STEP 5: Apply the glaze.
The glaze is just a slightly darker color, to give it some variation in color. I’m applying this right to sections of the highlighted color.
STEP 6: Use an even lighter highlight color.
For the painting kit system, color #3 is an even lighter color. If you look closely, I chose random bricks to dab on the lighter color, to highlight them. Using all these colors together creates a layered look that resembles brick. So you get your painted fireplace that looks like brick but you kick that ugly red stuff to the curb. Woot!
STEP 7: Use a sealer (if you want to).
Honestly, I didn’t use a sealer and had no problems with the paint. EDITED: October 2017, there is one small area that chipped where my kids have thrown down their Xbox controllers. The color has lasted, otherwise, and looks great. Brick Anew does make a matte finish sealer which I would recommend if you’re planning to store things on the hearth. Just be sure to buy enough for your fireplace.
The Results
When you’re done and it’s all dry, this is what your new painted brick fireplace will look like:
What I like is that it doesn’t look painted. I’m sure we’ve all seen white painted brick fireplaces that just look like a thick coat of paint. My fireplace actually still looks like brick, only it’s much lighter and makes my family room feel more modern instead of outdated. It looks natural, which is what I like (and hubby likes, too).
5 Years Later: Watch My Interview With The Owner of Brick Anew!
Fall 2017: Five years after I painted my fireplace I wanted to interview the owner of Brick Anew, Sam Wilhoit, to talk about fireplace painting! You can also watch the interview on my YouTube channel.
BEFORE & AFTER: Painting a Brick Fireplace
Let me remind you of what my family room looked like when we moved in. It’s a very long room (about 24 feet), full of dark paneling and dark brick.
Once we had a contractor replace the paneling with drywall and then painted the fireplace, the room looked like this for several years:
BEFORE (December 2010)
In 2015, I made over my family room, removed a huge tree from the backyard that was blocking the light, and this is what my family room looked like afterward! Even years later, it still looked great!
AFTER
As you can see, the brick still looks amazing!
Painting it was the best decision ever! And it still looks like brick which is what we wanted.
I highly recommend the Brick Anew fireplace painting kit. I think it was the best money spent.
Halloween 2016
Close-up of the brick (6 years later)
July 2020 – (Nearly 8 Years Later)
It’s been nearly 8 years later and this paint has been holding steady! There are two little spots that have chipped away, but these are spots where the kids (who are older now and I swear do more destruction than when they were younger) have placed their XBox games and have rubbed up again the paint with their feet while playing video games.
This is the second area with some chipping from the brick and where the kids have rubbed their feet on the area while sitting in front of the TV playing video games.
Since it’s been nearly 8 years and these are the only two spots with significant chipping (due to my kids), this is definitely a solid product that will provide years of coverage.
If you’re ordering this kit in 2020, I would recommend, after having lived with this painting kit for the past 8 years almost, have some extra paint on hand so that you can easily do some touch-ups down the road. I’ll likely just need to dab on some paint over these areas and it should blend right on in. 🙂
How to Paint a Brick Fireplace – Video Tutorial
If you’d like to watch the original video of when I painted my fireplace, just watch below!
FAQ:
Q. Can I buy Brick Anew at Home Depot?
Nope…..Sorry, unfortunately, they only sell from their own website, as far as I know. (I bought the Twilight Taupe, but there are a couple other color choices). The shipping is free, I believe, which is good.
Q. How much does it cost?
It’s a whopping $199.50, to be exact. I know…. I think it’s a bit overpriced for paint. But the beauty of it is that you don’t have to do any guesswork in trying to come up with your own color combinations to try to fake the same look. You can try if you’d like. I know that a few people have emailed me and said they did their own faux finish, and it turned out! You can also just buy the kit. Brick Anew offers a money-back guarantee, which is awesome because if you try it and find that you don’t like it (not very likely that you won’t like it), there’s no regret. Since making this video, I have worked with Wendy and Sam, the husband and wife owners of the company, and they’re super sweet people who will answer any questions you have about the kit. Just tell them that you watched Serena’s video tutorial. 🙂
Q: How much Brick-Anew paint will I need?
If your fireplace is huge like mine, you will probably need to order more than the kit offers. The website says it covers about an 8′ x 10′ fireplace. If you see my video and pics above, one kit covered just the top half. Order according to your fireplace size. Use mine as a gauge.
BEFORE
Working on an older house is….draining….exciting….and expensive, even when you’re DIY’ing the heck out of it. When we bought this house, every room needed updating, including this family room. I’ve not gotten to all the rooms yet, but here’s what my sweat and crocodile tears have afforded me so far! 🙂 Feel free to check out these other projects or to sign up for my 30-Day Makeover series, where my readers and I work on our houses together.
Are You Ready to Buy Brick Anew?
I understand your hesitation because it’s a lot of money. But since they have a 30-day money back guarantee, you can always get your money back if you don’t like it. Just try it out first. If you don’t like it, they do accept returns. But I’m pretty confident you’ll like it, though. 😉 When I first bought mine, I was going to send it back without using it because I kept focusing on the fact that it was $200. But Wendy, one of the owners, spoke with me on the phone and said, “Just try it first. If you don’t like it, you can send it back to us.”
I took her advice, gave it a try (in the video you saw above), and loved it! I’m glad I didn’t just sent it back without trying it first. We would probably still have that ugly brick fireplace! LOL
Exposed brick, in the right setting, can look fabulous! But it can also border on “dated” if it’s too dark and it can suck the light out of living spaces.
So do you have an old brick fireplace that is driving you crazy? Leave a comment below and share your horror story! 😉
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When you bought the extra paint at Home Depot, what exactly did you buy? I am trying to find what color and finish and also if you bought a gallon or quart extra. Moving to a new house and along with painting many many walls, we have this listed to do. It’d be much easier for me to hit Home Depot for extra then wiat for a shipment.
Hey Steve! Sorry for the late reply. I got the Brick and Mason paint from Home Depot. It is holding up just fine! 🙂
I got the same look for $20.00. Cleaned the fireplace, mixed 2 parts water with one part white, latex paint. Slowly painted one brick at a time, dabbing and rubbing in with a clean rag, as I went, I was careful not to get it in the grout. Looks fabulous!
Hi. Can you post a photo of it?
Hi, yes, I have a photo of the result. My husband loved it! I do not know how to post it here. Tried to copy and paste it into the comment box, but it didn’t work. I am happy to try again, if anyone can tel me how I can post it here or happy to attach it in an e-mail to you! It is such an improvement! The fireplace had sickly looking, 60’s peach brick. Now it’s SO much better!
Meant “tell.”
I think you will have to upload it to some place like Pinterest and them post the link here.
We are about to do ours. Can’t wait to take before and afters!
Love the way your fireplace turned out. Looks just like mine right down to the brass doors! I am about to order the kit and I noticed that you can buy additional base coat. My question is what size of area did you paint? Do you think one more container would have been enough for you to finish? My area is 11’x13′. I work odd hours so any chance I have of hitting Home Depot is slim to none anytime soon ( I am the 2am project kind of gal) advice would be great!
Hey there, Sarah! Thanks for the compliment! My fireplace is about that same size. The kit comes with 2 bottles of base coat. It took me both bottles, and I was only able to finish the top portion of my fireplace. It also depends on how porous your fireplace is. Mine is VERY porous! If your is porous, I would count on needing 2 more bottles to coat the whole thing. If you’d like, you could probably just order 1 additional bottle, and then if you need it, order another. Not sure how much shipping would be, but it would be cheaper than buying another bottle and then finding that you don’t need it, you know? Their website says that a kit will cover 100 sq ft. Yours, from your dimensions, is about 143 sq ft. Try one extra bottle and go from there. Good luck!! You’ll love the results!
Hi Serena,
Love, Love, love your brick wall!! It’s so updated and fresh looking! I have a “faux brick” wall in my kitchen that is definitely going to get a make-over. I’d love to achieve this look and was wondering how you feel about white-washing the faux brick? It would still look like brick, but with a nice whitish wash. I’d love to hear your opinion and perhaps suggestions.
Thanks bunches:)
I think this turned out great. Do you think you could have done this with material all from a Home Depot/Lowes/Menards paint line knowing what you know now or do you think that the Brick A New has some coats in which can not be replicated. I enjoyed the depth in which things were put in order and it makes sense because some people just choose to paint their fireplace and it’s just a solid color and it does not look brick anymore; this does?
If it could be bought locally, could you possibly tell exactly what products are needed to buy and how much one may save. I agree 200 is steep but you do have a great looking wall!
Thanks for taking time to make a video; much appreciated
Hi, Randy! Hmm…good question. I think I probably could have, maybe if I had known what I was ordering before I actually ordered it. LOL. I was up at 2 a.m. and just happened to be searching painting fireplaces, and stumbled onto Brick Anew. It was a splurge purchase, without any knowledge of what I was buying. I was a little dismayed to find that I had spend $200 on…um…PAINT in small bottles! LOL What you’re paying for is the particular COLORS they’ve pre-mixed for you. If you could figure out what colors you’d need to do a faux finish, which is what this is, then you’d be all set. Do some research on faux finishes and see what you come up with.
As for saving, you could get a can of regular brick mason paint for about $20. A WHOLE CAN, versus one of those small bottles. That’s huge savings!!
Let me look in to seeing if I can try to replicate it. I don’t want to infringe on their licensing or anything! Lord knows I don’t need a lawsuit. LOL
Thank you for the reply; I agree the color scheme should not be too hard to find for some faux diy finishes that some people have experimented. I guess besides the brick mason paint is there any other special paints. I understand Brick a new is going to be cryptic and not boldly say this is just brick mason paint from lowes with our label on it with our own color tint we made up. Thanks again for responding and I am glad you showed us hope in what our fireplaces could look like and not so “Old” . Great job!
Definitely! I think the most important thing is to start with a basecoat that’s a few shades darker, and then work in a couple lighter colors, while working in random pattern to “faux” it on 🙂 As for special paints, there is one step that they call the “Glaze” step. I don’t know how “special” it is, though. I don’t know if it was really a glaze at all. I’ll take a closer look at it and see if I can determine if it’s a more watery glaze or something. But oh—I think I forgot to reply earlier that yes, it still has a “brick” look to it, which is what drew me to the product to begin with. Hubby wanted to keep it its original brick (!!!! Heck no!!!!). So I thought this was a good compromise: paint it, but make it still look like brick. I’m totally satified with it! So even if you bought it, you would NOT be dissatisfied! It really does work, and takes the guess-work out of which colors to choose to make it look the best.
What did you end up buying from Home Depot? A latex, oil, or a tinted Kilz? Also, did you use Brick-Anew’s spray brick cleaner to clean the fireplace prior to painting?
HI, Jason,
I’m sorry, did I end up getting back to you about the paint that I bought from Home Depot?? If I didn’t, totally sorry! Do you still need help? And if not, how did your fireplace turn out?
No, haven’t done my fireplace yet. It was supposed to be my big winter project, before yard work calls in the spring. 🙂 Still have a few more months though, and I just want to be confident about my color choice and the amount of paint I’ll need.
I did find a BBB bureau report on the BrickAnew folks:
http://www.bbb.org/atlanta/business-reviews/fireplace-equipment-retail/intercept-sales-in-marietta-ga-27271392
A few complaints listed there but still an A+ rating.
Jason, I haven’t seen that report. In my own experience, they had pretty good customer service. At first, I was going to return the kit, even after I had painted part of the wall, because I just felt like, “I paid $200 for THIS??!!” The customer service woman was like, “Yeah, we’ll give you a refund if you really want it, but promise me you’ll at least TRY to finish all the colors, or at least do a test, and see if you like it.” So I took her advice and finished it, and I DID love it, so of course, I never returned it.
Let me know when you’ve done your fireplace! I would really love to see a pic 🙂 Happy painting!
Jason,
Don’t be afraid to paint it! You will LOVE it! The black mortor won’t matter, because (if you use this painting kit), you would be painting the whole brick and mortor with the base coat. It covers well, but you will need more than what comes in the kit. It comes with 2 bottles of base coat, but if you recall from the video, those 2 bottles only covered half of my fireplace. I ended up going to Home Depot and got a color match of the base coat. You could do the same, too. The difference is so slight you can’t tell. And then when you do Colors 1,2,3, just do it on the brick. It will look soooo much nicer. And yes, I cuded Twilight Taupe. Good luck, and let me know if you have any other questions! 🙂
Yes, I’d like to paint my fireplace but I’m hesitant. Like yours, my brick fireplace covers one entire wall but my mortar joints are black not gray. I don’t recall from your video, but did you use the Twilight Taupe color?
Thanks, Jason! Yep, base color was applied to everything. As for Colors 1,2,3 and the glaze, I applied them only to the bricks. My mortar was a bit inset, so it was easy to only stick to the bricks. But some people’s fireplaces may have more even brick and mortar, so you’d have to be diligent to stay on just the bricks. Are you considering painting your fireplace?
Thank you for posting this video. The fireplace looks great. Aside from the base color, were colors 1, 2 or 3 or the glaze used on the mortar joints or only the bricks?