Annie Sloan Paris Grey Fireplace Makeover

Today I’m sharing the details of our Annie Sloan Paris Grey Fireplace Makeover, a DIY project in our new mountain home!

Friends, since we’re on a tight budget in fixing up our new mountain home in central Oregon, it felt a bit overwhelming … what project do you we start on first?

It would have been easy to keep the original red brick fireplace that was built in 1984, because it did tie in nicely with the brick and wood floors back then. But it’s a new day and age, and fresh and bright and white, with lots of light, is much cheerier!

The fireplace is the first thing you see when you come up the stairs into our great room. Taking down all the curtains was the first step toward beautiful light coming into the house.

The next thing was the simple change of painting the fireplace.

The original was just too much red–in your face color—and it did not tie in well with the blue Vermont Castings wood stove.

Annie Sloan Paris Grey Fireplace Makeover

Inspired by Melissa’s new fireplace, over at The Inspired Room, we ordered a can of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, in the Paris Grey color, and we went to town painting the fireplace! (We ordered our paint, here, for around $39).

How to mix the paint

We wiped down the brick with a dusting cloth, getting rid of the cobwebs.

We mixed the Annie Sloan paint – 3:1.

We mixed 3 cups of water to 1 cup of paint.

The paint is very watery, but don’t worry, you will see the results quickly, a nice translucent look, as you paint it on the brick. You need to paint very slowly.

The personality of the brick still shows through!

A little more subdued, a more calming influence in the room.

And if you want it to cover up the brick entirely, just paint 2-3 coats.

Oh, and by the way, there is NO primer used in this project.

Every day

Every day is precious, and I’m learning to not wish time away, but to enjoy the moment, even though many DIY projects may not be complete in our home yet.

We’re getting our new KitchenAid appliances in place.

I have some new rugs that arrived, since the floors are all brick and wood in this house.

The center island has been built.

And now we’re deciding on countertops and lighting. We have a new plan of restaining the current ones, and then getting a new solid surface for the center island.

It’s truly coming together in such a lovely way.

And we are grateful.

Happy weekend, Friends!