fireplace redo!

Like I said in my last post, this summer has been full of projects. It has been amazing to cross off some of those "to-do" items on the list! We finally painted the remaining wood doors that had been screaming 80's for so long. We also replaced some of the door knobs with oil rubbed bronze for a crisp look. No more wood doors and gold knobs! It was crazy when I walked into Lowes and realized that knobs were not as cheap as i had originally thought. Replacing knobs doesn't sound like a crazy expensive project until you realize that EACH knob is $15-$18 and that doesn't even include the hinges?? Spray painted hinges here we come!

One of my favorite projects that I did this summer was the fireplace. I have a tendency to jump on projects because my creative juices start flowing and before you know it I have paint in hand ready to begin. I did promise myself to "sit on" painting the fireplace for a while (2 years to be exact), just to make sure "painted" was the way to go. Even though I knew deep down that it would look so much cleaner and would lighten the room, I still waited. Until one day a few weeks ago I decided it was time. I made a quick call to my dad and got advice on what paint to use and headed out the door to Sherwin williams. I ended up with a paint/primer all-in-one specifically for brick. My dad suggested that I pick a shade of white that would contrast with the bright white trim so I went with "pearlized white" from Sherwin. I will say that it took much longer than I had anticipated just because the paint was soo thick. Overall, I am so happy with it and I think it turned out great!

Before: I did love the brick but it made the room so dark.

Progress: Here's an in progress shot during the 5 hour project!
After: Sorry for the fuzzy picture. I have only taken pics with my phone so maybe I will add some when I use the nice camera. It looks so bright and clean!
**Added:

Here are some more pics with the better camera. Not sure if my skills are any better though, ha.