You don't need to prime, but the nail holes might flash if you don't double coat them. You can use a primer for this or you can use the low lustre topcoat.

You can prime it off the wall if you like. Then bring the wood into the house and sticker it and let it acclimate a bit before your first cut. Use a sharp coping or jigsaw to handle where it meets in the corners Be sure to take the time to get a good, straight, smooth caulk joint between the top of the baseboard and the wall. No wall is ever as flat as a well-milled stock. Use a nail set carefully. Then touch up any dings and hit the nail holes with some wood filler (or spackle) , prime over the caulk and dings and nail holes, sand one last time, vacuum well and tack it off. Use a high quality slanted brush, good light and with a confident, steady hand you can zip right along with the finish paint's first coat. The sand, vac and tack it again and then put a final smooth, smooth, smooth coat on the baseboard. Sit right on on the floor and make it perfect. It will be a pleasure to live with for years. Store some of the finish paint in a couple of small, full-up, tightly closed, well-labeled 1/4 cup mason jars. These are your long-term, ding-fixin' kits. Paint which is stored in a can that is opened and re-closed repeatedly will eventually dry out. But those little jars will stay fine for years and years. HTH L.

Hi Pete thanks for your response. You assumed correctly in that I am doing the surround and not the firebox.. I do not plan on leveling the surface. I am a mosaic artist and find the stone surface a real treat to be able to mosaic. As to the reasons for wanting to seal the fireplace first is because it has seen many a hardcore fire and the stone is still stained after many washings. I want to prevent any seepage of grease or oils still around. especially if I am going to do a direct application which is what I plan to do, in mixed media, mostly stained glass mosaic. I have underpainted many a mosaic so I know it is and can be done in some if not most cases; just not sure about which sort of paint + clear adhesive could be used as far as the heat factor or if I should just use thinset. I want to avoid thinset as I plan on grouting and I want a better control over the grouts depth ( I can be heavy handed w/ thinset ) Thanks for your advice on the squaring of the fireplace, I had battled with the thought earlier in my idea process but decided I'd enjoy the challenge of it's rustic surface to mosaic. But; if down the road I want it to disappear now I know how!! Aren't you glad you're not married to me !! lol Kathleen

Patty, Here was a ps of the island done in black. When you're standing at the entrance, like in the first photo, the black island would be right in front of the white refrigerator. This was before the corbels were added. My wheels are still spinning about the island. I don't think the red suggested idea above is going to work after standing in the kitchen looking around last night. It's too close to the rug. The color above the cabinets is closer to the true wall color. See my elephant of a refrigerator. :) IRL you can actually see the specks on the chairs and I like it, these photos... no so much. Changing the fabric would be an easy way to change it up but I just did those not that long ago so I'll have to wait for now. I like the idea of a darker fabric but I'd have to choose carefully because my darling cats sleep on those chairs (not the table) quite a bit. Here's a photo of the two fabrics Kmcg -Thanks for linking to that blog. Never saw that one. I have to admit, I liked the before kitchen much better!! I know she said the stains didn't match so maybe IRL it didn't look as nice. I favor dark, rich tone wood over painted cabinets any day. I have a bunch of photos saved. I do see a pattern but they're so far away from builder my standard, builder grade oak that I can't relate them.