WWYD - brick fireplace

[Thegentlemonkey]

What would you do with this brick fireplace? Budget is v tight, I'd love to paint it white but DH is unsure & worried its irreversible if we change our minds. Our walls are pale grey (aren't everyone's!), white ceilings and woodwork & neutral beige-ish carpet that was here when we bought last year. Would love to se pics of anyone's brick fireplace successfully painted - struggling to find pictures to convince DH, or tell me if I'm making a huge mistake!

I would keep the immediate brick that surrounds the fieplace, (the indented brick) and then perhaps paint around the other bits of brick, which would break it up. If painting white(ish) I would pain the little ledge as well above the fireplace. You could tile the bits of brick in front of the fireplace, a dark almost black tile.

We have a stinking great 70s brick chimney in our 1800s cottage. I'm going to panel it with vertical wood tongue and groove and paint it. It's pretty cheap and not actually painting the bricks so easier and more changeable if I change my mind about the colours.

Ooh thanks for some fresh ideas - really good to hear other opinions. I want do you mean tile the hearth?

Paint it the same colour as your walls and spend some money having a thick oak ledge to replace the current shelf. Get rid of the brick border around the hearth.

Hi. If you search on pinterest there a photos of whitewashed brick fireplaces that look really nice. You water down the paint, which means some of the brick still comes through and has character, rather than it being solid white. You can also rub some of the whitewash off in places, to give even more effect.

Looks really good and makes the brickwork much less obtrusive. Would go well with pale grey walls.

I like the colour of brick so I probably wouldn't do anything but I guess it depends whether it looks right in your space. If it's a fire you will use, I would avoid white because it could look grubby so quickly. I've seen some nice painted brickwork in dark grey so maybe that could work?

Just saw this one which I like

Lala how would you get rid of the brick hearth surround? Surely you'd end up with a gap between the existing hearth tiles & carpet, which we can't afford to replace.

Yes,that's true.I suppose you could buy some extra terracotta tiles, which are pretty cheap, and extend the tiled area.

Or build an mdf facade for outer bricks and paint that? Definitely need a bigger mantle we got a huge chunk of oak from a reclamation yard for £15. The bolts to hold it up cost £30 mind you.

I would replace the hearth with a slate one that reaches across the whole fireplace and replace the mantle with a much chunkier oak one.
Would probably leave brick as it is (but might change my mind once I saw what it looked like with the other two changes).

Thanks for all your suggestions - given me lots to think about!

If you can bear to click on the link below, it'll take you to Mumsnet favourite Cherry Menlove's site. She's done exactly what you're talking of doing...

cherrymenlove.com/before-after-living-room-mantle/

is it a gas fire?

I would paint the brick with a very watered down emulsion and cement some new tiles on the hearth..possibly black quarry tiles or slate. I would also take off the existing mantel and replace with a much chunkier piece . Some ideas here

tutorial

Gatekeeper yes it's a gas fire, although we've never used it dice we moved in over a year ago, & can't imagine we will - certainly not more than very occasionally.

I hadn't thought of a chunkier mantelpiece but you're probably all right - I think we have an old oak kitchen worktop cutoff I the garage somewhere... Could be ideal if it was long enough! Will have a look through all those links now.

Does anyone have ideas on the best way to get rid of the brick hearth surround - can you cut through brick to level it with the rest of the hearth so I could then lay a new layer on top?? I'll be doing any work myself but am willing but not always very able!

Just knock them out with a mallet and something like this:

www.screwfix.com/p/roughneck-bolster-cold-chisel-set-3pcs/46209?kpid=46209&cm_mmc=Google--Product%20Listing%20Ads--Sales%20Tracking--sales%20tracking%20url&cm_mmc=Google--Shopping%20-%20Hand%20Tools-_-Shopping%20-%20Hand%20Tools&gclid=Cj0KEQiAyIayBRDo4vjdqJrgxZ0BEiQAhOYCYKU3YgFszmpKIkwh4QvRt6hUPHfJiReIgWktYayZxsMaAgYL8P8HAQ

good luck thegentlemonkey

make sure you bung photos on of your progress and update us please