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Fireplace Makeover with High-Heat Spray Paint
Aug 31, 2021
Original Fireplace
I spray painted our brass fireplace surround before we moved in with Rust-Oleum High-Heat Spray Paint. I unscrewed it, took it outside and taped off the glass with blue painter's tape and spray it. It's easy and really goes a long way with updating outdated fireplace doors.
Over time, they got a little scuffed, so it really needed retouched, so I carefully taped everything again and gave it another coat. It's amazing the difference this last coat made in how neat the surround looked. I think that means you should probably make this a job of three light coats if you're painting over the original metal. I would have had a better initial result, because one coat easily touched up everything so well.
The Firebox
You know how you don't always see or notice things you see all the time? I never really realized how yucky the firebox itself looked until I started photographing our fireplace after I built our new mantle. The interior was painted white and was very dirty and had what looked like rust all over the walls. I waited to do this part of the project until summer on a 100-degree day, because I used the gas logs all winter.
I opened the doors and removed all the gas logs, but didn't unscrew the gas line. I created a little tent with trash bags to keep the spray paint from coming out as much, and put on a mask and opened the door next to the fireplace for ventilation. I sprayed all the white areas (walls and floor) black with high-heat spray paint, and man, it was fumey. Even in a mask, I had to take a lot of breaks and leave the door open for a while to get the smell out.
As much as I tried to shield the paint from coming out, I didn't do a perfect job at that, and ended up having to do quite a bit of cleanup afterward on the surrounding areas. I think it might have been better to get the traditional high-heat paint and rolled it on. It probably would've taken me longer to get it on the walls, but I guarantee you I probably spent more time cleaning than the time savings of using the spray was. So, do as I say, not as I do.
After
I am amazed at what a difference touching up the exterior of our fireplace doors and painting the inside black did to improve the overall appearance of our fireplace. It's an easy, less than $10 project that really makes an impact. You can also read how I transformed the look of our brick fireplace here with Romabio Lime Slurry.
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