Hi Everyone!
So you may have noticed in my New Year, New Room Challenge: Living Room Refresh Reveal our fireplace has taken on some pretty drastic changes over the last month. And one of the biggest changes was just making it look clean again, a permanently clean fireplace that is!
Before our fire place was sad and dirty looking even though it has probably had less then 20 fires burned in it over the last 30 years. Seems hard to believe that it would be so few but we do live in Southern Texas, so there isn’t a whole lot of need to burn a fire here. But the few fires it has seen left it scratched up, scarred, and plain old yucky. It was time to change all of that, permanently and all for about $10.
- Rustoleum High Heat Spray Paint
- Painters Tape
- Newspaper or similar
- Bucket
- Scrub Brush
- Dawn Dish Soap
- Baking Soda
- Paper Towels
- Vacuum
The most important part of any paint job is to prep the surface. So to prep my fireplace for it’s permanently clean look I first had to clean it! I know, disappointing. But I won’t ever have to scrub it out again!
First I vacuumed out all the loose debris and dust. Then I grabbed a bucket and filled it with a squirt of dawn, 1/4 c of baking soda and 1.5 gallons of warm/hot water then it was time to start scrubbing. I used a medium stiff bristle brush and started scrubbing everything down. Once I thought I had thoroughly scrubbed an area I grabbed a few dry paper towels and wiped down the area, removing the soot buildup. Then I repeated until I felt the fireplace was sufficiently clean.
While I waited for my fire box to dry I started taping off the insert and protecting everything else in the vicinity with paper.
If your fireplace has an insert like mine, look around in the upper edges for a metal plate like this that has the serial numbers, etc. You may need this one day for a real estate inspection, or parts. So be sure to cover it with tape too that way it will still be legible later.
Once everything was taped off, protected, and dry I was ready to start painting.
To apply the paint hold it 8-12″ away and apply in short bursts. This paint seems to dry almost instantly to be careful not to get too close and cause drips.
After one coat of paint I could already tell things were improving drastically, but you could still see the old scratches, etc.
After two coats of paint everything was looking clean and beautiful again! Just for good measure I also painted the log stand, and the mesh curtains that way everything would have the same clean look.
That’s it! The whole project took me 45 minutes including cleaning, protecting and painting and all together it was $10. I would say that is a pretty good investment for a permanently clean fireplace!
Thank you for stopping by to check out my new permanently clean fireplace! To see all of the posts on my fireplace makeover click here. To see all of the posts on my living room refresh including sources and shopping lists, click here.
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Did you paint the inside too or just the surround? Oh and where did you get the great looking logs?
Hi Dee!
I painted the firebox (inside where the logs are) and the insert it’s self. I also updated the tile around the insert it’s self using a no demo method. I’ll be posting the tutorial on that this week. As for the logs I originally purchased them from Gordmans in 3ft lengths and cut them down but I have seen them at Hobby Lobby too and Amazon has a nice set too. Thank you so much for stopping by Dee!
I always had my schedule to clean our fireplace, if by the looks of it, usually take me an hour os two to thoroughly clean it up. And I have to clean it up quarterly. Basing on what you’ve stated here, I won’t be needing to clean it by quarterly as it will be almost clean permanently. This is so awesome, I can’t wait to start tidying it up.
Hi Kim! Your fireplace will still require cleaning to remove any debris and build up that could lead to a flue fire. This just keeps your firebox from looking dirty. Thank you for stopping by!
Have you burned anything in it since this post? How did the high heat spray paint hold up?
I haven’t since we live in Texas we don’t really use it. The paint is designed to withstand heat, so as long as you follow the directions on the can it should be okay.