Old brick fireplace?
Question:How can I modernize an old brick fireplace? Has anyone tried painting brick? I want it to look nice
Answers:
An old brick fireplace and you want to modernize it---shame on you---lol--just clean the bricks--ask at Lowes about this or Home Depot! I think that it is classy to have an old brick fireplace--get yourself all the fireplace stuff (screen utensils etc. at yard sales I see them a lot at yardsales--that will dress it up and have someone make a mantle over it if you don't have one and put a nice ornate mirror over it or a special painting!
Painting brick is a good way to rejunenate it----just make sure it's what you really want, or else it will have to be sandblasted to remove the paint!
You'll want to wire-brush it first, to make sure you have a nice clean surface to start with, then thoroughly vacuum it to remove the dust and debris. Using primer before you paint is an absolute MUST, to insure proper adhesion; then just select your color and paint! I'd suggest going with a fairly natural "brick-colored" hue though. Good luck!
If you paint it you might regret it! If so you have a very big job ahead of you to remove the paint. You may want to just add decorative touches or emphasize the inside with candles or a plant or something along that line. These things are easy to change as often as you want according to the season.
If we are talking about a natural brick the first thing to do is to thoroughly clean it, make sure you get rid of all the dust particles. Next prime it with a sand based emulsion. What you do is mix sand with regular white emulsion apply it on with a thick brush as thought you were painting a wall. After that choose the color you want mix that as well with sand and apply it in the same manner.
Painted brick can look very nice. I think it absorbs a lot of paint, so you may need 2 or 3 coats. Faux painting can be very beautiful if it's done right. You would have a base coat of cream, for instance, with copper and brown glaze applied lightly on some of the bricks. I'm sure there are directions for this on the web.
You can veneer over it with Natural or Manufactured stone. Check out culturedstone.com for a popular Owens Corning product.
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