stenciled+faux tile+fireplace
The East Coast Creative gals are back with another amazing stencil project.  I already copied their last months project and now I want to paint my fireplace.  I have terrible black tiles that are itching for a makeover.  And I agree with Jessica it sounds like a great fall project for me.  So do you want to know how to paint a fireplace.  Well listen and learn…Jess take it away…
Hey all! It’s Jess from East Coast Creative and I don’t know about you, but I’m itching to Fall-ify my home. Monica’s been busy putting the finishing touches on her huge DIY patio, but I’m totally focused indoors right now. Here in the northeast, we’re experiencing cooler weather and are getting ready to send our kids back to school, and all that has me in the “let’s get cozy, wear sweatshirts and bring out the pumpkins” mindset. One of the major focal points for seasonal decor in our house is our fireplace and mantel, which I decided to give a little makeover before bringing out my fall decor. All it takes is chalk paint, a stencil and a lot of patience.
painted fire place

I’m not going to lie, this was not an easy project. In fact, it took me at least 6 hours of painting and stenciling, but it was so totally worth! Here’s what you need to do:
1. Prep your fireplace. I had a peach marble tile fireplace surround that I hated. Yuk. Anyway, I wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove and dirt, dust and soot.
fire place before painted

2. Choose your paint. I used Annie Sloan’s chalk paint in Pure White and French Linen. Man, I am in love with this stuff! It adheres to any surface- even marble!- with no trouble. Just a quick word about fire safety: we don’t use our fireplace, so I wasn’t worried about whether or not it was flammable, but be sure to check your paint if you have an active fireplace.

chalk paint and stencil

3. Brush your base coat onto the surround. I used Pure White and it took 2 coats to get even coverage. I recruited my hubs to do this part, since, let’s be honest, painting trim is not my strong suit and I’ll take help when I can get it!

painting a fireplace

4.  Place your stencil in the upper corner of the surround. Adjust the stencil sheet and check to make sure it’s level, then tape it in place with painters tape. If you want to use a spray adhesive (which I didn’t), spray it on the back of the stencil and place it down evenly. I highly recommend using the adhesive for this job, because it took me a loooong time to get clean lines without it. (We have an awesome tutorial on stenciling must-haves if you need help with this!)

stenciling a fireplace

5. Begin stenciling. The trick to stenciling without any bleeding is to off-load your brush properly. After dipping into the paint, dab it onto an absorbent paper towel or cardboard until it there is very little paint on the brush. Both my stencil (Beehive Furniture Stencil) and brush are from Royal Design Studio, and they are excellent quality, which makes the job go much smoother.

loading brush with paint
I had to do two to three coats for every stencil to get the coverage I was looking for. Words can not express the excitement of pulling back that very first stencil. Go ahead- try it and tell me that’s not true.
stenciled firepalce
Once the paint is dry, realign the stencil, level it and keep on moving! You might want to turn on some music, because you’ll be doing this for a while. 🙂
stenciling a fireplace
At the end of the first night, here’s what I had accomplished. Ugh. I saved the hard parts for last. Yippee!
fireplace stenciled

6. Cut your stencil to fit the corners and edges. Oh, this part is so hard, because as I was cutting my stencil, I was envisioning all the projects I could do with it go right down the drain. But, it’s absolutely crucial to cut the stencil if you want clean, crisp lines all the way around.

placing stencil

7. Touch up any paint bleeds with a small fine-tipped paint brush….or toothpick, in my case.

No matter how good you are at stenciling, there will always be some bleeding. It’s easy to touch it up with the base paint color and a steady hand. No one will be the wiser!
touch up painting
8. Finally, wax it and you’re done! You’ll want to add some kind of protective finish, and I used Annie Sloan soft wax, which was formulated to work with chalk paint. After all that hard work, you’ll want a force field surrounding this thing, but wax will have to do.
waxing painted fireplace

Step back, grab a drink and enjoy your pretty new fireplace surround!

new painted fireplace
I love love love it, and am already planning a room makeover based on this fireplace!
stenciled and painted fireplace

If you want a cheap project that will instantly give your room a facelift, this one is for you! Show stopping material, folks! We’d love for you to stop over and check out all the fun stuff we have planned for the Fall. You’re welcome anytime. 🙂

jess
 

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29 Comments

  1. gorgeous !!!! brilliant I am so doing this to our fireplace 🙂 thanks for sharing. May I ask u the colors of your walls ?

  2. I am so impressed … there are no words. I have the ugliest fakey looking black marble surround in my Master and I would love to have someone do this for me – I mean try this. I would need to practice stenciling first – I have never done it before. I definitely have this on my to-do list. Genius!

  3. This is beautiful–not sure I have the patience–especially since theres no way I could escape. “help” from my toddler. I love love love the colors too.

    Can I also ask–what is your wall color? I love it!!

  4. thank you so much I adore blue/grey/gray my whole house almost is painted but will use this one for the sitting and kitchen lokks great 🙂

  5. I love this effec!! How do you think it would work on formica for a backsplash? Do you think you would have to seal it with something tougher? Anxious to hear from you.
    Linda

  6. This is beautiful. I love the way it turned out. I too have one of those lovely tiled fireplaces in my home and I have saved this as an option. It is definitely a lot cheaper than new tile. Great job ladies!

  7. What size stencil brush did you use or would you recommend? This is my first time stenciling anything and I want to make sure I do it right and make it look as good as yours!

  8. I love this project!! It turned out fabulous. I have the ugliest tile around my mantel and this has been on my list forever!! I think i will take the plunge and try it!! I painted my fridge so this isn’t too off from that!! 🙂 ~ Lori

  9. I love the fireplace! Where did you get the vintage white pitcher/watering can? I’ve been looking everywhere for one with no luck, even online! I love it!

  10. this is fab i have just moved into my new house and it has a beaut fire place but the worse colour green marble and after hours of research of how to change it without buying a full new marble this seems to be the best! defo guna give this a try it cant get any worse!

  11. Hi Jennifer, This project was done by my pas contributors from East Coast Creative, but I would say you could use any chalk paint.

  12. hello, I was wondering if you woils recommend the chalk paint for the entire outside frame of mantle? I Have a very ugly brownish red marble fireplace I would like to paint. Thank you

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