Painting a wooden fireplace in situ

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We've recently moved into a Victorian terrace and want to pain the fireplace, it's quite heavy and would be very difficult to move.
Any tips on how to do this without making a mess of it? The tiling and inlaid sections don't show well in the picture but they're a dark almost petrol blue. Please ignore the mess, we're only half unpacked.

You’d need to gently sand it down ( gently so as not to damage the tiles).

To protect all the different elements from paint, you could try tape but they look pretty small so I’d probably not try to protect things but paint with a tiny brush.

PS it’s normal to paint things like fireplaces or door frames in situ rather than ripping them out.

We changed a horrible mahogany fireplace to modern black before. Covered tiles etc with newspaper and masking tape. Sanded wood then used a spray primer and spray paint designed for wood. Looked amazing at the end. We also painted the hideous tiles white with a tile paint

Brilliant thanks, ha can you tell we're FTB my first thought was to rip it out and put back until DH pulled this face !
I did think of spray but we probably want to keep the tiles as they are so spray might make it more difficult

Normally a big fan of masking tape, but not here.

Why? I wouldn't risk putting masking tape on that embossed wallpaper. On the inside edge of the wood, you've got glossy tiles, so just have j cloths and remove any paint that strays onto the tiles straight away.With a damp cloth , if water based paint, or white spirit / meths for oil based paint.

If the surface of the wood has varnish on it, I'd be using Zinsser bin as a primer. Follow directions- degrease with meths first, don't overbrush.

Thanks Dancing, great advice - the primer sounds much easier than trying to sand down everything meticulously

Love the tiles. I'd paint the wood a dark, gunmetal grey as it would look gorgeous with the blue. As above, sand gently, prime and paint. Envious at you living in a Victorian house

Relatively easy to paint as long as you sand it, use primer and then a couple of careful coats. My DH did ours and it was an awful pink marble and he used special fireplace paint that had sand in it to make it look like sandstone. It's now amazing. I'll find the link for you...

Link to the fireplace paint: https://stonelux-stone-effect-paints.myshopify.com/products/fireplace-stone-coating?utmmedium=cpc&utmmsource=googlepla&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8OLP6-ve2QIV65ztCh0j8g89EAQYByABEgLcsvDBwE

Thank you all, mumsnet is great.

We were planning on painting it white but I do like the suggestion of gunmetal grey, I'm thinking of doing the wall behind in f&b drawing room blue if I'm brave enough.

Nonwonder, we've just taken out a hideous marble fireplace from the bedroom - didn't know it could be painted over!

My OH used Rustoleum satin furniture paint on ours and didn't sand it & it was a horrible yellow pine. Looks so much better now even if my mother thinks it was a crime and looks awful Bad photo as it's nighttime, but you'll get the idea:)

Before and after shots - definitely worth painting an ugly fireplace!

I painted our pine one, looks great now. Second the use of BIN where sanding is too messy, it's great!

I used Rustoleum furniture paint on a dark fire surround in our dining room which is off the kitchen. It was varnished oak and not in the best condition. We removed the surround so it was horizontal when I painted it. Gave it two coats of the appropriate Zinsser then two coats of the furniture paint. It now matches our kitchen units. Satinwood paint works well too. I painted the fire surround in my first house twice - first a heritage cream then after a few years white. It's still there and still looks good - I saw the EA's photos last time it sold!

Hi

Was it the rustoleum slate colour you used?

I’d try and get the wooden mantel off the wall - are there any screws in the wood at the side? Then sand, two coats of wood primer then some eggshell paint.