The 2 Hour and $20 Fireplace Makeover

$20
2 Hours
Easy
For just $20 and 2 hours, I dramatically changed the appearance of a 1974 drab fireplace. I buy old, ugly houses and flip them. Come follow along on this crazy house-flipping, DIY life on my blog, The Bachelorette Pad Flip: https://bachelorettepadflip.wordpress.com/
Can you say, DUNGEON?!
Welcome back to 1974....otherwise known as Flip #2 in my world. The living area was SO dark and bland. In particular, I felt like the fireplace was so monochromatic and lacked any character. But with $20, I made an insane impact and created a focal point in the living room.
And this is all you need!
I purchased a gallon of white latex paint. I COULD have painted the fireplace white and pristine...but I did that in Flip #1. I wanted to try something different...something rustic. So I chose to Whitewash the entire brick fireplace.
To see how to create whitewash paint, I have a complete tutorial on my blog, The Bachelorette Pad Flip. I spent about 2hrs brushing the whitewash mixture on the fireplace. I did a few touch-ups as needed. After $20 and 2hrs, I had a brand new fireplace!
2 hours well spent!
I kept the original mantel as it was. I loved the contrast it provided to the whitewashed fireplace. The distressed historic cherry floors paired really well with the whitewash fireplace.
The great thing about whitewashing is not only that it's CHEAP, but you can whitewash just about any surface. Have a brick wall in a sun room? White wash it. And white wash doesn't just have to be white...you can use my same mixture from my blog with just about any paint color. Come check out my other DIY-on-the-cheap tips!
The Bachelorette Pad Flip
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Frequently asked questions
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3 of 7 questions
  • TangoTeaser TangoTeaser on Jun 20, 2017

    can you do this on exterior brick as well?

  • Tra16806547 Tra16806547 on Jan 09, 2018

    How do u whitewash a wall already painted white? My parents are selling house and they have long brickwall with open fireplace. I would like to give it an updated look

  • I’d like to whitewash my fireplace but as you can see; mantle and lower part are concrete. I’d like to paint these a different colour to accent the fireplace. Any suggestions? I have taupe colour walls and light oak flooring is being laid. The furniture coming down into this room will be beige. I’m also thinking of painting the brass.

Comments
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3 of 25 comments
  • Victoria Victoria on Sep 09, 2017

    OMG soooo nice! Looks so much better

  • Joan Stanley Joan Stanley on Jul 29, 2019

    Looks better but to be honest, there should have been more paint in your mixture. I hate the look of fully painted brick so I did a similar technique. I used full strength Dove White latex paint, working it well into the pinky brick. But I used an oldfull size towel to rub it back off right away. The paint stays well on the brick but rubbing it off makes it look like the bricks were originally white. Just a bit of the pink shows through but that also adds to the realistic look. The white paint also lightened the dull grayish mortar too.

    • I don't think there are any "shoulds" in DIY...except you SHOULD do what you like. The paint mixture I used was perfect for my design & taste. You SHOULD find what works best for you.

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