When we moved into the house I was beyond thrilled that we have not one (1) but two (2) fireplaces. However, I was not so thrilled with the outdated look of the fireplace in our family room and I could not wait to give it an update without spending a ton of money doing it.

While I did not do a great job documenting the entire process, this is such an easy update that you can do it in a day with just a couple of steps.

Here we go:

Grab your scrub brush and give the brick a good bath. If your brick fireplace is anything like mine it probably has not been scrubbed in some time. You want to make sure you have a clean surface before you begin painting so that your new paint will last you years to come.

Once your fireplace is nice and clean AND dry primer the brick making sure you get in all the cracks. This is an important step because chances are your fireplace will have high traffic, and you want to make sure your paint adheres really well. I did double duty and also bought paint with primer in it, but I would not just do that on its own.

While your primer is drying you can prep your insert if you will be painting that as well.

Tape off all of the brass and glass areas on your fireplace insert using a razor blade to do the rounded corners if your glass is like mine. Use the high heat spray paint and paint all of the brass in several light layers. DO NOT SPRAY too heavy this will cause drips. Make sure you have cardboard or plastic down on the floor in front of the fireplace as the spray tends to travel which is why you want to do this step prior to finishing the paint on your fireplace.

Now all you have left to do is add two coats of paint over the primer. make sure you get in all the nook and crannies. When painting the brick I like to paint the cracks first then go back to cover the face of the bricks. Once your paint dries step back and enjoy your all new fireplace.

To update your fireplace you don’t need much so here is the short list:

1. Angled paintbrush to get in the cracks
2. Scrub brush to give the brick a good cleaning prior to paint
3. Painters tape if you will be doing your insert, or if you don’t trust yourself painting close to your wall
4. High Heat Spray Paint, to get rid of that 80s brass
5. Kilz Latex Primer, to lock your fireplace paint into place for the long haul
6. Paint color of your choice, I prefer Behr and used the color