Just a can of white paint...

Ok, well maybe a can of primer and a can of paint...and some leftover blue wall paint from the kitchen. That's all it took to transform our living room.  I absolutely love how it turned out. I've been wanting to paint our fireplace since we moved into our house a little over 1 1/2 years ago.  Get ready for some amazing before and after shots!

To be super dramatic, this is what the living room looked like when we bought the house:

BEFORE

Lovely dark wood paneling everywhere and really nasty carpet.

Then, we painted the walls and wood. The sellers put in hardwood floors...

A huge improvement! This is how it has looked for the past 1 1/2 years.  

Then, after looking for a bigger area rug for that long, I found this one for super cheap:

So, we added the rug which really helped...but I still haven't liked the brick fireplace and ugly brass and black fireplace screen...

It took some convincing, but finally Reid was on board with the idea. Don't get me wrong, I do love exposed brick in some settings...but not here.

I also had the idea of using some leftover soft aqua paint from our kitchen to paint the backs of the shelves. I figured it would make the objects pop...

Ok, get ready...

AFTER

Ta Da!!

It makes the room feel so much brighter, airy and modern!

It really only took one coat of primer and one coat of paint.

And the larger area rug makes a world of difference.

The most annoying part of the process was painting in between each brick with a brush before rolling on the paint.  If you attempt this, use an old brush that you don't care about because it will be destroyed by the end.

 

I had fun rearranging some objects and adding in a lot of white things to showcase them against the now blue backs of the shelves. (recognize that owl?)

I even spray painted some old picture frames white to keep everything bright.

The fireplace screen needed a few more extra coats of paint. It's not as smooth as I'd like it to be, but you don't really notice unless you are up close. Maybe we will eventually get a new one, but this does the trick for now.

We just had to use a razor to scrape the excess paint off the windows.

So, if you have brick you don't like, go paint it! It's a little gutsy, but totally worth it. 

To recap the project...

BEFORE:

AFTER:

* I just used regular latex paint and primer for this project and it has held up perfectly so far!

Next, we will tackle those beams...and hopefully paint the ceiling fan.. But, that will require a very high ladder and some upper body strength. :)

Has anyone else had brick painting success?