Can you take them off to paint them? I would prime with something like Rustoleum primer and then paint over that.

Would it work with your decor to paint the brick? I lived in a house with an orange brick fireplace. After 10 years I finally got up the nerve to paint the brick cream color. Best decision I ever made! If you paint the brick, you can paint the vents to match.

They can be removed to paint but I don't think my husband would want me to paint the brick. The room is done in cedar paneling and the fireplace covers one whole wall. It is about 20' wide.

faye

In my house, anything that isn't moving can be painted! I paint all the vents when I paint the walls. Can you post a pic of your FP? Then we could all see what you're dealing with.

I can't see why not.
I recall seeing a few posts here in the past few years in which people wrote they painted over the metal edging of their fireplaces' glass door fronts (masking the glass very well and using a spray paint meant for high temperatures; if I recall, they had brassy looking edging while the rest of the metal framework on the fireplace front was black, and they spray painted the edging black).

I would just go to a place where you get the feeling they KNOW about paint and different formulas and get the scoop on proper prep work.

(Regular air vents on the walls are easy to paint; even with heat on, the temperature really doesn't get tremendously high. Mine are painted to match the walls.)

You can use Rustoleum high heat paint.
I did it 5 years ago and it has held up well.

[IMG]http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k97/fayeboyd/fireplace.jpg[/IMG]
This is the best picture I had of the fireplace. You can see the metal vent at the bottom in the hearth.

There are two of them.

You could easily disguise the vents with some craft paints; i.e., acrylic paints from Michaels. Some black, brown and orange, brush or sponge them on until they match the brick.

I don't have a picture handy, but I've painted most of the return air vents in my house. I used Rustoleum and put a sprayed a few coats on them. There are a few places where they've been scratched (from changing the filters), but I they've held up beautifully.

That is a beautiful fireplace (love the arch) and a very strong statement, so strong that it overwhelms the issue of the vents. Honestly, I had to LOOK for the vents in the photo. I see some on top of the raised hearth that are dark and already blend in very well (took awhile to see them), and something white or cream on the face of the raised hearth. Is that what you're wanting to paint? If so, I think I'd aim for the look of the one on the top of the hearth... sort of smooshy greys and blacks and just a very teensy bit of red. It would look better just looking, well, used, than looking like a brand new red painted vent, IMHO.

Absolutely -- paint 'em!

For the one that's in the horizontal hearth surface, you could find a nice little tribal rug and cover the hearth surface when the fireplace is not actively burning.

I wouldn't try to make them match the brick, but I would definitely either paint them a brown, oil-rubbed bronze colour---or just buy new ones in the brown colour at Home Depot of Lowe's. They're only about $10 each and would probably look better than painting them yourself.

My first concern was do they get very warm or hot? If so, I would not use a craft paint, but a high temp paint.

I don't use the fireplace much anymore. I think I will try some of the suggestions about painting them. If I mess up I can just buy some more in a different color.

Thanks,