How to Paint a Brick Fireplace With a Distressed Look
A distressed brick fireplace has a rustic look, reminiscent of old-fashioned farmhouses and log cabins. Sitting in front of a roaring fire, you feel transported back to another time. The fireplace shows clear signs of wear, including chips and dings on the brick and an uneven finish on the paint. Painting brick requires a little more work than painting other surfaces because brick is porous and absorbs more paint. Once you move past the painting, you have a unique, distressed fireplace. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Trisodium phosphate, TSP
- Plastic bucket
- Scrub brush
- Acrylic primer
- Paint roller
- Paintbrush
- Acrylic paint
- Coarse-grit sandpaper
- Soft cloth
- Steel wool
- Paint stripper
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Instructions
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Remove any soot from the fireplace with a mixture of trisodium phosphate and warm water. Mix 1 cup of TSP with 1 gallon of water in a plastic bucket. Scrub the solution on the brick with a scrub brush. Scrub fresh water over the fireplace, removing any excess TSP.
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Paint the fireplace with an acrylic primer, which reduces the amount of paint needed on the brick. Use a paint roller over the brick and follow that with the paintbrush. Slide the paintbrush along the mortar, covering those areas with the primer.
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Cover the primer with one coat of acrylic paint. After the paint dries, lightly distress the edges and corners with coarse-grit sandpaper. Rub the sandpaper around those areas, rubbing off some of the paint and primer. Wipe down the fireplace with a soft cloth, removing any brick residue.
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Apply a second coat of paint onto the fireplace. Distress the final layer of paint with more sandpaper and steel wool. Rub the paper or wool across the fireplace in a circular motion and a back-and-forth motion, which adds more texture to the distressing.
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Rub paint stripper on the brick to add even more distressing to the fireplace. The liquid eats through the paint, revealing the different layers of paint and brick. As soon as the liquid reveals the look you want, clean off the paint stripper with a rag dipped in water.
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Tips & Warnings
Make sure that you cover any carpet or flooring around the fireplace with a plastic or cloth tarp, which keeps brick dust and paint from staining the floor.
References
- Photo Credit Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images
