Have you ever wondered how to whitewash a brick fireplace? We decided to do this to our dated brick fireplace, and today I’ll walk you through the entire process.
First let’s take a look at the room before we moved in, when it was a completely blank canvas.
And then we moved in and chaos took over.
A little more progress…
I knew from day one that I wanted to do something about the fireplace. The bright red brick just made the room seem dark, especially since the room doesn’t get very much natural light thanks to the connecting sun room.
I decided to whitewash it, although I opted for a more opaque version of a whitewash since I didn’t want a pinkish red tone showing through, but I still wanted the texture of the brick to show.
The idea of taking a paint brush to the fireplace was definitely a bit scary, but I felt like I really had nothing to lose since I could always just paint it if the whitewash didn’t look right.
We might reface the whole thing eventually anyway, so for now this is a solution that works for us. If you’ve been thinking about doing something similar to your fireplace, then you’re in luck, because I’m walking you through the whole process.
First, let’s take a look at where we are now.
Now for the tutorial:
How to Whitewash a Brick Fireplace
Supplies Needed:
- White paint (I just used a basic white interior latex in an Eggshell finish, but I think that any white latex paint would work.)
- Paint brush
- Cotton rags
- Painter’s tape
- Baby wipes (I keep these on-hand during any paint project for easy clean-up!)
- Drop cloth
- Paint mixing cup (the ones with the measuring lines work great)
- Booze (Ok I’m kidding, but if any project would drive me to drink, it’s this one.)
I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Day One of this project had me wanting to pull my hair out, not because it’s difficult, but because it’s tedious and time consuming and I just wanted it done already.
It didn’t help that I started it at nighttime after a long day and I was tired (and maybe a wee bit grouchy). When I woke the next morning to finish the job, it went much more smoothly. I think this was partly due to being well-rested and partly because I could better visualize the outcome and I liked what I was seeing so far.
This is definitely one of those projects where you have to keep your eye on the prize and know that the work will be worth it. I estimate that it took a total of 4 hours or so, and I split it up over 2 days.
Ok, let’s get down to business. Here’s how you do it:
Step 1
First, mix your paint with water. I kept a craft stick in my paint container the whole time so I could periodically stir it.
How much water you add will be determined by how much of the brick you want to show through. I’ve seen a ratio of one part paint to one part water recommended, but this was way too watery for our super porous bricks and they soaked it up like a sponge. (See below.)
I ended up just adding a smidge of water to the paint – I didn’t really measure, but if I had to guess I’d say 3-4 parts paint to 1 part water. It was a runny consistency but still thick enough to adhere well to the brick. It ran off the brush like a ribbon, similar to the consistency that would be required for a paint sprayer.
I made my paint a little thicker because I only wanted to do one coat.
Here’s something to be aware of — when you apply the paint, even if you use more water than I did, it may appear more opaque than you want it at first. Don’t panic! The bricks will absorb it and start to show through. Also, you will probably get a lot of drips, so have a rag handy to wipe those as you go.
Step 2
Tape!
I taped around the edges of the mantle and near the floor since I’m a messy painter and I didn’t want to take any chances.
Step 3
To apply the paint, I worked in sections and first painted the mortar by cramming my brush in and stippling, dabbing, and doing whatever it took to get into the crevices, and then worked my way across the bricks. (You could try a roller for the bricks, but I found that I really had to stipple and cram my brush in there since most of my bricks were pretty roughly textured.)
I continued this process the whole time, going back and touching up where needed. I stepped back frequently to look and make sure I was applying it evenly and that it wasn’t absorbing more in one spot than others. Which, by the way, it did.
I woke on day 2 after painting the top half of the fireplace, to find that the right side was more opaque than the left, probably because my paint thickened as I went along. I went back and added more until I evened it out, and made sure to keep my paint stirred more consistently for the rest of the time.
See how the right side appears to have more coverage than the left?
Here’s a shot of it halfway done:
In the end, we were really happy with the results and the white really brightens up the room. The red tone of the brick is covered but the texture still shows.
If your paint goes on too opaque, you can use a wet rag to wash some of the paint away. If there is too much coverage after it dries, you can always take a sander to it.
Here’s another look at the After:
UPDATE: We’ve made progress! You can see what this room looks like now and get all the details here.
So tell me, would you whitewash or paint your brick fireplace? Or leave it “as is”?
You Might Also Like:
- How to Paint Furniture (A Beginner’s Guide)
- How to Stain Furniture
- 13 IKEA Curtain Hacks
- 9 IKEA Bookcase Hacks
- How to Stain a Deck
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Ha, that’s where the stink bug was hanging out 😉 on IG.
love how it turned out.
Thanks Julia! Haha yes apparently the stink bug approved of my work. RIP stink bug — my husband knocked him off and smashed him. I told him no bug smashing on my freshly whitewashed brick! Ha.
I’ve been contemplating this project on my fireplace, too — my brick doesn’t go all the way to the ceiling (it’s just the surround), but it’s like a dark hole in the room. Yours turned out AWESOME, Erin… think I may give it a go. 🙂
xo Heidi
PS — I say keep the brass — will keep the light bouncing around your room and brass is “in” right now anyway. 🙂
Thanks Heidi! I’m leaning toward the brass too. 🙂
What a difference! I would have done this too. Great job.
Thank you Lisa!
Wow – what a difference. Love the look of the fireplace now. I’m still considering doing something to mine but mine is already a lighter colored brick, not the bright red. Can’t wait to see a full house tour.
Thank you Rosemary! With yours being lighter brick, it would probably be a lot easier and take less coverage if you wanted to do a whitewash. You could dilute your paint more than I did.
I think brass is making a come-back! I love the whole project!
Thank you! I agree — I love gold in general, but I had planned on just using silver in this particular room. Then I found those andirons and it threw off my whole plan! I think I’ll probably just keep them and mix metals in the room instead now.
I’m digging the white wash. i might actually be a little more daring and strip the mantel — and make the wood more warmer. kinda like jacobean colored stain? but then it is similar to the floor tones. ah i don’t know!
I personally prefer the black fireplace grate, but either works good!
Thanks, Erin! I keep going back and forth about the grate. For now we’re using the brass one but I haven’t ruled out bringing the black one back in. Thanks for weighing in!
I love the whitewash! And I think you were right going more opaque to avoid a pink blush look! As for the screen, I would go with the brass. I don’t like it much when it is super shiny or in permanent fixtures, but I do enjoy it when it is aged and in small doses… and I definitely love the character of the andirons you found!
Thank you Heather!
The whitewash looks amazing! I’m not usually a fan of brass either, but I really like how it acts like jewelry for the fireplace here. The black screen feels more like a big hole in the wall to me.
Thanks Julie! I agree, the black sort of disappears in front of the fireplace.
I’m really torn. I’m not q fan of brass. In fact I’m constantly driving my mother crazy with my comments because they are renovating their bathroom and went with all brass fixtures..ugh!!! However, I like the detail of the brass screen. The black screen seems to modern for the space. My favorite would be if you could add some oil rubbed bronze paint and tone down the brass..giving it a vintage feel. I love the sectional and the area rug. The white wash brick is very interesting! I think it makes it looks very cottage like and warm versus the formality of red brick. Great job! Now if I could just hire you to help me get inspired with my family room and living room!
Thanks Debbie! I’m looking into ways I could maybe age the brass a bit. I love gold in home decor, just not shiny 80s brass. 🙂 But I’m living with it for now.
I totally agree with you! Gold is a great accent but I don’t care for the 80’s shiny brass either. I recently spray painted a few 20 year old brass lamps with the oil rubbed bronze and there’s a few peeks of gold in the new finish. What’s your opinion on mixing metals in a room? I have bought curtains that have silver grommets and my curtain rod is rubbed bronze….not sure if it will look thrown together.
Hi Debbie! I love mixing metals! At our old house I had a mix of silver and gold in our bedroom,and now I am going to have a mix of silver and gold in the family room too, especially if we keep the brass fireplace screen. If you think the silver looks strange against the bronze curtain rod, you could either spray paint the rod silver to match the grommets, or use Rub n’ Buff on the grommets to match the rod a bit better. Just tape the curtain carefully so it doesn’t get on your fabric.
Hi Erin,
You mention Rub n Buff above for Debbie’s drapery rod. I have the same brass screen you do but would like to tone it down a bit. Mine is old and original to the house / but super shiny. Will the Rub n’ Buff work on the fireplace screen as it would on the drapery rod?
Thanks,
Leslie
Hi Leslie! As for the amount of paint, I used about 1 1/2 quarts. Since it is watered down, you don’t need as much as you would think. You may use a bit more or a bit less depending on how porous your bricks are. A gallon should be more than enough for sure. As for the Rub n Buff, I wouldn’t use it on the fireplace screen unless you just use it for looks and not for function. I’m not sure about the flammability or ability to withstand heat from a fire. There are high heat spray paints on the market if you really want to change the look, particularly the type designed for grill grates and things like that. Good luck and happy painting!
Looks great!!
Thank you! 🙂
Erin,
How much paint did you buy for the fireplace? Would a gallon be enough?
Thanks!
It looks fabulous! I love either screen, they’re both working nicely. Brass is making a huge comeback. Have you thought of painting the back of the bookcases a color? It would make those accessories pop.
I’ve just painted Grant Beige and love it. It’s a gray/beige but nice and neutral.
You’re off to a great start!
Betsy
West of the Square Designs
Thank you Betsy! And YES I have thought about painting the bookcase backs! I’m debating either painting them or maybe doing fabric or grasscloth. I definitely want to do something. I like Grant Beige too! It’s on our “maybe” list for paint colors. 🙂
Glad you painted over the red brick. I agree with you going with calm affect. I’m torn on the white wash a bit. Not sure if I’m sold on the see through look. I kinda am leaning towards more solid white. I would also either stain mantle dark brown or paint black to pop out more. But I guess I always put whitewash with cottage look. Which I like as well. I agree with your idea and maybe add grass wallpaper to backs of shelves. Even if you do it to cardboard /whiteboard and stick put it up on that so not permanent. You have a beautiful home and are doing a fantastic job.
Thank you! And thanks for the ideas!
Wow, Erin you work fast! Your fireplace looks awesome and makes such a difference to the space! Pinned 🙂
Thanks so much Katie! I appreciate that!
Looks great! the built-ins and the fireplace all flow together so nicely now 🙂
Thank you Gretchen! 🙂
Girl, you are movin and groovin on fixing this house up! I love it! The whitewash looks great!
Thanks Jenna!
Your room is really coming together. Love your new rug. And great idea painting the fireplace surround, too.
Thank you, Gina!
I am so impressed with how much unpacking and decorating you have done! Awesome job! It looks great.
Thanks Sabrina! Just don’t look at the rest of my house right now. 😉
Wow, this looks great! We have almost the exact same living room arrangement, except our brick was already painted when we moved in. I like both screens, it may be fun to switch them out depending on the season. 🙂
Oh wow–I love the fireplace whitewashed! It makes the room feel so much more brighter!!!
Thanks so much, Katie!
Great article, have a lot of people asking for whitewashed floors to go with a room project and this is a great companion article to go with it.
Hope you won’t mind if we link to it.
That would be fine. Thank you!
I have a full brick wall ,(no fireplace) that is an awful dark red brick,I want to do the whitewash,but wanted it to look more like stone,was thinking of using two shades of paint,a grey and a tan,what are your thoughts?
I think that would look great! Maybe light shades of each. Please share pics if you do it! I’d love to see it!
What ratio did you use for the water and paint? Thanks.
Hi Anne! I would guesstimate 3-4 parts paint to one part water. I tried half and half and the bricks soaked it up like a sponge.
After years of not liking the yellow/gold tone of our fireplace brick I took the plunge after reading your whitewashing article. Best thing I ever did, I did a 50-50 ratio and the brick now has a taupe weathered look! Total transformation in just 2 hours. Thank you!
That is so awesome! I’m so happy that my post was helpful and that you’re happy with your results. I’d love to see pictures! Feel free to share them on my Facebook page if you’d like! 🙂
Love this! You have inspired me. We just moved in a new home and have a tight budget but I hate our huge outdated fireplace and need an inexpensive fix to get us through a fee years before we do a total reface. So -I plan on whitewashing and this made me feel confident in going for it. A few quick questions – did you have to prep the brick (wash, sand, anything)? And what did you do about the inside? Did you just leave the mismatched brick or paint in there? Help! 🙂
Hi Katie! I did give the bricks a quick wipe down with a damp cloth just to get cobwebs and dust off. No sanding though. I left the inside alone, but I always have a fireplace screen in front of it so it’s not really noticeable anyway. Good luck!
love love love this!!! I have huge ugly red brick fireplace and was just thinking about doing this to tone it down!!! it looks awesome and I think the brass looks great!!! thanks for helping all us diyers out!!!
Thank you Tricia! I’d love to see photos if you end up doing it! 🙂
Hi Erin,
I love what you have done with your fireplace and living space! I personally think the brass is an interesting detail in your room that gives it character. The black grate works, but you did such a great job on your fireplace, its nice to give it an accessory that compliments it. You have totally inspired me to whitewash my fireplace! Thank you for sharing your tips and experience!
Erin M.
Thank you Erin!
ERIN , this is the first time I have been on this website and I just LOVE it!! I especially like so many of your ideas. We have a huge , wide red and brown brick fireplace in our family room that goes to the ceiling and really does darken the room. On the opposite wall we have a matching brick wall that goes the entire length of the room which makes for a dark room. I am thinking of white washing both of them. We have lived in our house for twenty- four years, so I am ready for a change. YOUR ROOM TURNED OUT SOOO GOOD! I do like the black screen much better than the brass look on your fireplace opening. I also think it would look really neat to get a long, not wide- rectangular piece of art work above the mantel. I think you could get something REALLY COOL that would be as they say a “SHOW STOPPER!” I am from Cincinnati and we can get really cool pieces of art work for reasonable prices at Kirkland’s, TJ Max , Akea, and At Home. I just don’t think the mirrors do that space justice. One more suggestion- I just think the accent chairs are “cold” and look terribly uncomfortable. Since the fireplace is usually the main focus of the room, I think two small tub chairs with a bit of color that would swivel would be PERFECT for that space. I certainly don’t mean to bee too critical- like I said- I really do LOVE SO MANY OF YOUR IDEAS!! So glad I found this sight!
Hi Peggy! Thanks so much for your comment. We did end up using the black screen. I agree about the chairs, and those are actually our outdoor chairs which we never intended to permanently keep inside. They are just temporary seating until we can find (and afford) the right ones. They’ve been there over a year now but we will get around to changing them out eventually! They are definitely not comfy family room chairs but provide extra seating in a pinch if we have several people over. I’d love to see pics of your family room if you end up whitewashing the brick! I enjoy seeing before & afters. 🙂
I am going to do the same thing here, but am having issue with a coordinating wall color. I have a brown couch and putting in cream carpet in the basement. I need a wall color that compliments the floor, wall and brown couch – so a stark white may be too much for the fireplace. You have made it work with the wall color – what color and brand did you use on the walls?
Hello! Our wall color is Edgecomb Gray by Benjamin Moore — it’s a light neutral tan. You could always go with a bolder color for the walls, maybe navy or a muted green? Not sure how much light your basement gets, so that might come into play when choosing a color too. Good luck, and I’d love to hear what you end up deciding!
Our basement is super dark – only 2 windows on one side that let light in half of the day. We need it to be bright (hence the ivory carpet which I will regret with children playing on it). I could do an accent color above the fireplace, as the brick ends at the mantel. Thanks for giving me something to think about.
Awesome tutorial! I would love the look of it – makes the whole room a lot brighter now. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Love love your white washed fireplace. Question, can you do this in a different color?
Laurie
Hi Laurie! Yes, you definitely could. I would start with a more watered down version as you can always build coverage by adding more paint to get the look you want.
Great job on the fireplace. I like the rubbed bronze idea .
I am a home stager and so looking at your room, the fireplace is the focal point, and I think having the furniture toward the fireplace, making it more I to a conversation/tv watching area would look nice. Agree with some color to backs of the bookcases.
Thanks Marilyn! I would have definitely situated the furniture this way if we could, but unfortunately the space between the mantel and the ceiling is too narrow to fit a TV, so the only place we can put it is on the other wall. I do have a chair facing the fireplace. I’ve also updated the room since this post and I wallpapered the backs of the bookcases, which you can see here: http://diyonthecheap.com/family-room-update/. Thank you!
Love it! The room is really brighten up. Have you ever try a paint sprayer ? I think it will save you a lot of time
Thank you! Yes, I do have a paint sprayer but I wanted more control over the coverage and I really had to push the paint into the nooks and crannies on this porous brick and mortar. I think the sprayer would have worked well if I had wanted more opaque coverage. I do love my sprayer!
Is this a functional fireplace? I was going to do mine tomorrow but we are planning on burning wood this year. The guy at Home Depot said the paint would Burn…. Thoughts?
Hi Stacey! Yes, it is a functional fireplace. For that reason, I didn’t paint the inside brick, but we haven’t had any issues with the surround being painted. You could use a heat resistant paint if you are concerned about that though.
This looks amazing! We have a very similar fireplace and are about to add built ins just like that. Would you mind telling me how wide your built ins are in comparison to the fireplace width? I’m a little nervous that ours would be too narrow and look weird in proportion to our wide fireplace.
Thanks!
Amy
Thanks Amy! Our fireplace is about 91 inches across, and the built-ins are each about 43 inches wide. Hope this helps!
Thank you so much. I am definitely going to do mine. I will paint the mantel black and a black screen. I have very dark leather couch and love seat, but they look black. Hope mine turns out as good as yours. Or do you think I should paint a very pale beige?
I’m so glad you found this post helpful, Carolyn! I think white would look great with the black mantel and screen. Just be careful to use heatproof paint on the screen if you intend for it to be a functioning screen. I would love to see before and after photos if you have a chance to send some! Or you’re welcome to post some on my FB page. Everyone loves to see transformations! Good luck.
love your place. but do you have any opinions on ‘black wash’ over red brick with light gray walls?
Thanks Regina! I’ve never seen this done, so I’m not sure what it would look like exactly. My thoughts are that it would probably darken the room a bit, so it might work best in a room that gets a lot of natural light. If you try it, I would love to see before and after pics!
LOVE this project, Erin. Makes SUCH a big difference.
Thanks Heather!
Absolutely stunning!!!
Thanks, Bernadette!
Simply gorgeous. I am starting this project tomorrow. Thanks for sharing and showing us how to do it. I will be following your totorial. Thanks Erin.
Thank you, Rosa! Good luck!