Bright White

When we first moved into our house, we knew that we had to do something to this 1970's fireplace, but we couldn't decide what. We were a bit torn, and our friends weren't much help, some people loved it as is, others agreed we needed to paint it. We gave it a good six months, and then I couldn't take it any longer we had to do something. As the picture above shows, we had lots of issues with this whole set up, too many cords, soot stains that wouldn't go away, discolored bricks from the previous owners etc. 

After searching the internet high and low, I convinced Andy to let me white wash it. From what I read it wouldn't take much paint, and was relatively easy. Someone said it took them all of 30 minutes. 

After finishing the whole bottom half, I stepped back and decided I actually hated it, and Andy agreed. It just had this unfinished texture to the brick, that I didn't love. So we decided to paint the entire thing. At this point I slightly regretted the idea of painting the fireplace because it took forever, multiple coats, and lots of elbow grease. 

But then it started to look pretty, and I liked it better once the mantel & the hearth were painted.  For those wondering the bricks and mantel were painted in Alabaster by Sherwin Williams, and the black used on the hearth is just a heat resistant flat black spray paint from Lowes. 

And here it is with the room not yet decorated, but at least somewhat put together.We still have quite a bit to do, curtains, new window treatments (the current blinds are hideous), hide the wires, new rug, new furniture, add artwork, potentially new flooring, etc. So look for more updates soon! 

So what do you think?