When I bought my house in the summer of 2018 my fireplace looked like this…

I SOMEHOW saw a vision. It was bad I know, needed a lot of work! I wasn’t sure what exactly I wanted to do with it at first. I had a lot of bigger projects I needed to tackle around the house before I committed to fixing the fireplace so for about 2 years I lived with it looking like this…

The summer of 2020 I had come up with a plan and got to work! I give you a timeline to prove that projects don’t happen over night, and that turning a house into a home takes time!! Sometimes I feel pressured or rushed to get a ton of projects done around my house, but that just isn’t realistic, and that is ok!! I decided I wanted to first whitewash the brick. To do this I first painted the grout lines using a paint brush with white paint (not diluted).

Next, I simply mixed half water with half white paint, used a large sponge and “painted” it on. It was more like wiping it on. I ended up doing three coats.

Now this was much better but still not great. I didn’t want to spend a boat load of money but it needed something else! The brown tiles were driving me crazy. Instead of completely removing the tiles and replacing them, I decided to stencil them. I used Rust-oleum Home’s floor coating paint that works on tile as well as a 4x4in stencil bought from amazon and got to work.

I painted the base black, and the stencil white then applied the top protective coat on top. This took me a couple days to complete. I wasn’t completely sure I loved how it turned out but eventually it grew on me. I have a whole highlight saved to my Instagram showing how I did this stencil. It was pretty self explanatory though, just time consuming!

I then also choose to add shiplap to the top, above the mantel. I chose a 6in wide shiplap board with tongue in groove. I used my bran nail gun with 2in brad nails to secure the boards into the studs. Below is how it all turned out!

I was really content and happy with this fireplace for the last two years. On a budget I felt I transformed it into something I loved. But just recently my entire living room and specifically the fireplace were starting to bug me. I wasn’t loving the space. I realized I didn’t like the whitewash brick anymore, and thought painting it a solid color would do the trick. I had lots of extra paint in my basement, so I went to town. I painted both the shiplap and brick Behr Ultra in alabaster white and here is how it turned out!

The solid white brick and matching white shiplap make me feel sooo much better about this space. It proves that the power of paint is so magical and cheap which is the best part!! This fireplace has really come such a long way. For similar projects and DIYs, follow me on Instagram @abbbclark_homeee !