Is that a painting over the fp? If so, do you think there's a darker green than the wall, similar to the color in that painting, that might work?

Nice job! I like the latte that Heidi posted. I love antique white, but not with your bright white trim.

I recommend BM Mascarpone, it's a warm white and will not look dingy or stark. We used it throughout our condo and love it. The brick looks great BTW and I would use a matte finish paint to emphasize the texture.

You are a woman on a mission--it looks great!

I'm so glad you were brave enough to peel that tile off. What a great result.

I'd spring for some malibu tile or something like it to use as a border around the firebox opening...tiling is easy to do...and then pull a color from the tile to paint the rest of the brick.

Malibu tile is custom made in any color combo you want, but if you scroll over the image, you'll see some color suggestions. I'm sure there are other mnfctrs that make a similar style tile as well...something that harkens to nature would be in keeping with the arts & crafts style.

The beauty of it is, you don't need very many, so even if pricey, the project is affordable.

Great suggestions! I *am* a woman on a mission. My entire to do list has been put on hold while I wrestle with the fireplace.

Hanging above the fireplace is a mirror, not a painting, so it's no help with colors. The art and decorations I have for that room are all blues and greens, but I just can't see the fireplace in a color! I've looked at a million photos online, and I just keep coming back to neutrals.

I love the idea of Craftsman tile, but I'm going to put that on hold for now. We just remodeled our entire house and still have to furnish chunks of it--this project has got to be uber-cheap. I can spring for the corbels and paint, but that's it.

Latte is lovely. I may also try a more greigy color, since Liveable Green has gray undertones--BM Revere Pewter, maybe?

It already looks very fresh. I rather like the way you are headed with the white. Not of course, the bright white you have now, but something warmer as suggested. You could start with Mascarpone and go a little darker but not too dark. Latte looks a little too pink-ish to me. But maybe I'm looking at BM, not SW.

Sherwin Williams is 30% off through the 4th ;) This has been so fun to follow. Be sure to share a before/after side by side!

Could you make a plaque on a wood board out of maybe six tiles (like Annie showed above) to hang as a medallion over the fireplace opening, and then use the tile background color to paint the brick? Choosing a paint color that doesn't relate to anything will be jarring, IMHO. Great job so far. What does your DH think?

Such a difference already. I'm still wondering what your husband said when he came home and saw that you'd torn it apart!

I actually like it the way it is; I think it's just the shock of the new. I would go no darker than cream, and it will look great once your furniture, rugs, wall art etc. are installed. Right now you're seeing it as a separate entity. The corbels will also take away some of the lightness.

WOW how fun and so much faster than having to clad it yet again!! I would caution painting the brick to matchy match the present wall color. In my world a fireplace is a PIECE unto itself and should be more permanent than a wall color or present decor might be. You are spot on in your hunt for just the right neutral white!!

We painted out red brick fireplace like this:

Tutorial/Supplies List Here

You are correct, the white is too white. I would select a white that goes with the walls.

Will you use this fireplace? Tile is easily washed, paint is not. Also you may want to add a lintel and decoration to the mantel.

I would just go with a creamy white that's just enough contrast. I love SW Creamy, or along these lines.

Paint samples are on the brick, and it's down to Revere Pewter and Balboa Mist. I much preferred the more gray beige over the more brown tones. (romy718, Revere Pewter is lovely in your room!)

Practigal, the fireplace is purely decorative. It originally held a gas heater, so it's not deep enough to burn wood anyway; we capped the chimney when the brick mortar started to fall apart, and we capped the gas line to that part of the house when they detected a tiny leak, so we couldn't use it even if we wanted to.

It is kind of weird to pick a paint without the context of other decor. I do have a rug that's going in the room, so I'm referring to it. The furniture that's going in that room now is the leftover reject material from the rest of the house. I want to put in some cozy Craftsman style seating--maybe a Morris chair and a rocker--but that will have to wait until the bank account recovers. So I'm just going to pick the best color I can for now. I can always repaint it later.

The corbels arrived (I don't know if ArchitecturalDepot.com is always that fast, but they got it to me overnight when I paid for three-day shipping) and I'm working on finding stain to match the mantel. I'll get back this next week--we spent today moving stuff out of storage, and I've got boxes to put away. But it's so cool to see the progress.

Oh, and my husband's reaction was a sort of bemused resignation. This isn't the first time I've jumped head-first into a project without consulting him. Sometimes this goes very well; other times it's a disaster. He asked me today if it was too soon to tease me about the bookcases (which I purchased from Ikea and assembled before we realized I had measured wrong and they wouldn't fit in the space--and that therefore required some pretty major engineering to make work). (I told him yes, it was too soon. Way too soon.) The fireplace looks to be not only a success but also one that doesn't require any effort on his part, and as he's teaching an accelerated summer chemistry course and has almost no spare time, that's a win!

It is going to look wonderful when you finish. Romy's fireplace is beautiful!

I used to do all my home improvement projects when my husband was on his business trips. It gave me enough time to play around with ways to tackle the project before he got home. He got a kick out of it.

powermuffin, I do too! DH was in air force reserve and his two week annual tour was "project time" for me! LOL! Firstly, I could work as long as I want not having to stop for lunch or dinner and secondly, he's slow whenever he does a project. He is no longer in the reserve so I don't have that opportunity any more but he does go meet his fellow AF buddies once a month and I use that day for projects like painting our little bathroom or painting my closet/dressing room! Or going through boxes and taking stuff for donations! (He sometimes has separation issues!)