painting a fire surround

[chairandchairalike]

We rent and have got a horribly dated mahogany fire surround in the living room m. With the landlords permission, we've decided to update it by painting in a mushroom colour. Any advice (even if the advice is don't do it!)

[Dfg15]

I've recently done this and it's looks great. I used Rustoleum chalky furniture paint and Rustoleum varnish. I gave it a good clean with sugar soap and then Two coats of paint and two of varnish.

[wowfudge]

Prime and two coats of water based satinwood paint. Durable, washable and lots of colours to choose from.

[chairandchairalike]

That looks great, I'm pretty clueless, do I need special chalk paint brushes? No need to sand first? Can I mess it up? Should I get a pro?

[Dfg15]

You don't need special brushes just ordinary decent ones. Make sure the fireplace is clean and dust free. I usually water down the first coat slightly. There are lots of tutorials on You Tube you could watch. I'm not an expert but I've done a few bits of furniture and they always turned out well.