Are you planning to use it for a wood stove? I ask because there does not appear to be a flue any more-unless the mirror is covering it. If not, I would demolish it. If you are going to get a woodstove, you could paint the brick to match the walls.

We are planning to get a gas stove and yes, the mirror is covering the unsightly hole. I wanted to paint the whole thing butternut to make it disappear, but DH would like it to still look like brick.

I'm in the same situation, with brick already painted a stark white. My idea is to paint it gray (or maybe brick red), and then white wash over that to make it look distressed. See the article linked below about how to white wash brick.

I have no idea how this will look. I'm still waiting for some days off to actually tackle the project.

Good luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: White Wash Brick

ooooohhhh I like that whitewashed look. I was hoping the heat gun would strip the paint but no go.

So your DH wants a brick look but you hate the color ???
Why not do a brick veneer over the current bricks ??

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.robinsonbrick.com/products/thinbrick/colors.asp

foyboystoo, that's a perfect idea! Much less work and probably less cost than having the paint professionally removed. It would look natural too.

How funny -- my DH and I just painted our corner brick wood stove surround white last weekend! We wanted a more modern look than the brick gave us. Now that it's white, that corner matches the walls and shows off our modern black stove. No regrets.

At our last house, we used a wire-brush attachment on our power drill to strip most of the paint off a brick fireplace. Then we took off the paint that was left with sandpaper. It was tedious and time consuming but very, very inexpensive.

I'd use Peel Away and strip the paint off the brick. PeelAway 1 would be my starting point. If your bricks are smooth surfaced, this would be a tedious, but very do-able job.

These are all great ideas! Thank you all so much!

Wow, the paint wash is great, that would be my choice. Have never seen this done so well. I'd run a sander over all to make sure the wash takes.

rada - I'd love to see any before and after pics if you have them. I have a 13' wide X 8' high brownish brick wall fireplace that I've been back and forth on my decision to paint for the last 16 years. Thanks!

Here's another look.

Here is a link that might be useful: brick wall treatment

Did you see this? Just what you wanted, I think!

Here is a link that might be useful: stained fireplace

Mahlgold, here are my pics. The brick made that corner a black hole.

The "after" pic is BlackBerry-impaired, but you get the idea. We are still painting so haven't put all the clutter away yet.

We love the simple white paint job and the way it makes the stove stand out.

Before:

After:

Cyn427, yes - I love that. But how to get there from here? I might try some of that Peel Away chemical. Even if a little paint was left behind I wouldn't mind. I'll have to poke around Home Depot this afternoon and see what they have. I'll look at veneer brick too as forboystoo suggested. Thank you.

aunttomichael,
Interesting what they did. I did my fireplace which had white marble tile this way. Used sanded grout and never looked back. It is really easy to apply and tons of color options. On the very cheap to do. Didn't smooth it out, sort of left a rough wall texture look and then wiped a stain over to give it an older feeling. This is an option if wanting to get rid of brick.

I saved this from an old thread on painted fireplaces because I have an old brick fireplace I would love to update but am too chicken. I searched for the thread but came up empty but here's the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: painted fireplace