Well, we have made some HUGE progress with our new house and our renovations. HUGE. And I am THRILLED to say that we are finally to the point that we are moved in and enjoying the space! AND I can finally start showing you some great before and after photos!!! Starting with the changes we made to our wood burner fireplace that is now a chic brick accent wall in our home!
When we moved in we had not one but TWO wood burning stoves that are great for heating a space BUT not great on the eyes. Naturally my husband feel in love with them. He loved the idea of their function and did not notice their lack of design. So we compromised (for now) and we took one out and left one. We have a long term plan for our kitchen, so “for now” being the words we use often, we decided to keep the brick behind the wood-burner—and my goal was to make take them from rustic to chic.
Here is where we started:
ohhhhh YUCK right?!
But I am happy that I now have a unique brick wall as part of my space… sooo in the end I AM thankful for the brick behind the old wood burner!
Now it took me awhile to decide what it was about the brick and ultimately I realized that it was the dark grout and brick colors so I got out my handy Pure White Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and watered it down and white washed the bricks and the grout to achieve a much more subdued chic look.
Next we had to fill in the hole where the wood burner vented to the chimney. We used a saw and then used calk to fully seal the space, because it is important that if you are using the existing chimney for other things that there is no back-flow into the room.
Then I had my husband use a concrete drill bit and concrete anchor screw to secure a place for my frames!
isn’t he just too cute?!
AND he is helping me decorate!!! EVEN better!
Much better right?!
And now that it is official and we are moved in and decorating… there will be A TON of posts about our house and the FINAL looks for each of the spaces!!! Yayyyyy!!!!
I am linking up to a few of my favorite parties this week—be sure to check them out for some great inspiration!
Look at you showing off the shirtless hubby
Too cute. And the wall doesn’t look bad either. LOL!
oh my goodness you make me smile!
This is such a transformation! I love washed white brick.
Thank you friend!!!
I love the look! I wish we could do that with our brick fireplace but we live in a rental!
oh I KNOW that feeling TRUST ME! But there is something about it being YOUR place… it is harder to make the call and really change things!
butttt then you do, and you are glad!
WOW Jamie, you did a fantastic job!! it looks gorgeous and I can’t wait to see what you did with the other rooms! Have a wonderful week:)
Thank you for being so nice sweet friend!
Looks AMAZING! Great job! We had a SUPER ugly brick fireplace that I painted white on a whim one year right before Christmas. I love the way it turned out! And thank you husband for inspiration to go work out this morning… LOL!
Hahaha
I don’t know why I was so hesitant to change the color of the brick—I agree white is SO much better!
it looks awesome! i love the new finish on the brick, too!
Yayy! Thank you Cassie!!
Eeeeek! Jaime!!! It’s perfect!!! The house is looking AMAZING! No surprise…;)
AMAZING! I can’t wait to see the rest. The little sneak peek in the pictures already looks beautiful!!
awhhh Thank you!!!
This looks so good! I love brick with a paint wash – so much more character than just a coat of solid paint. The fabric in your frames is beautiful too. Show us more!
I can’t wait to show you guys more!!! AND SOON!!!
Oh my gosh, Jaime!! What a difference! Love the chic new look but you kept the texture of the brick! Genius and lovely to look at.
Kudos!
xo Heidi
Thank you so much Heidi! I love hearing what you think of my projects!!! Thanks for leaving me a message!!
The finish on the bricks looks just like…….brick! Good job. And if I just say “ummm yeah!” will you know what question that is in answer too?
~Bliss~
WOW! Impressive! It looks incredible! Love the white wash idea!
Thank you!!! You are too sweet!
Can your husband come over and do some work for me? He can leave his shirts at home! hee hee! Sorry, I just couldn’t resist!
LOVE IT! hehe!
Sorry, I know I’m supposed to write about the brick wall but I’m distracted by the hot hubby:)
Jessica
stayathomeista.com
Here you thought you were showing off a wall and all anyone can talk about is your husband. It is looking so good. I cannot believe the transformation!! I cannot wait to see more. I know it is going to be FAB
haha—thank you for noticing the wall
I will remember not to include hubby photos next time, although it has been fun reading all of the comments! I can’t wait to show you guys the rest of the space!
Amazing Jamie … and I’ve eye spied a fabulous chandelier in that someday kitchen … looking so much lighter and brighter and chic!
Linda
ahhhh I LOVE all of the details that you noticed! Eeekkk I can’t wait to actually show you the rest of the space!!
Fantastic transformation!! Looks amazing…the brick blends in so well with the new wall colour. And that mirror…I love it!! Great job!
Saw you at Adventures of a DIY Mom
Debbie
yayyy! Thank you for stopping over!!!
Okay, I come back to the ole blog and hubby has his shirt off! Gasp! Just kidding
The wall looks much better! I am so glad you get to decorate now! It’s gonna be fun!
Wow Jaime! It looks awesome!! Such a great idea! I am SO excited to see the rest of your spaces. The little tease in the first shot looks amazing. I am so glad you are having so much fun decorating – makes the wait worth it, eh?
YAY for the fun part … and cute husbands
I love the transformation. So clean and bright! Thanks so much for sharing at Whimsy Wednesdays!
Amazing transformation! I love the new white washed look. Thanks for sharing at Terrific Tuesdays.
Rachel
adventuresofadiymom.blogspot.com
WOW! What a difference the paint made! It looks SO different and MUCH better! You guys did great!
Jennifer
Jaime, I love the wall!! I have a full wall in my kitchen with this kind of brick and have been looking at ideas to paint. I love the white washed look! Did you just use a large paint brush, so that you could get into the cracks? Also, since you used ASCP, did you seal the wall in any way? I can’t wait to paint mine, but just don’t want to have to do it twice!!
Thanks so much for sharing…..very inspiring to me!!!
OMG! I have to say your hubby surely distracted a whole lot of us.
The wall looks good with the white wash, looking forward to more updates on it! Thanks for linking up at Friday Fun Party. Have a nice weekend!
I love the look of brick! I just used brick for a backsplash in my kitchen and in a kitchen I was decorating for a client. And, I love that you can use Annie Sloan paint for brick! What can you not paint with that stuff? It is the greatest! This space is just beautiful!
What a transformation! Really brightened it up and it looks great!
Wall of bricks, where? I just saw a strong, good looking husband!! Love your brick wall
LOVE the before and after of your brick wall!!!
What an incredible transformation!! I’m seriously in love with the way it turned out.
I’ve pinned it for inspiration!!
Wow. This is incredible! I love the white! I’ll be featuring it on my blog on Saturday.
http://www.sumossweetstuff.com
Thanks for linking up!
Sumo:)
Love the white washed brick, Jaime! Thank you for linking up your fabric frame too! xo Jami
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! I have a HUGE brick fireplace and I go back and forth about painting it….now I really want too!!!!!! You will find this featured tomorrow night on my big old tickled pink feature post
What a wonderful transformation. You really turned a frog into a prince. Love the texture of the brick and the paint color was the perfect choice!
Nice job, hope ur not sorry bout getting rid of other one. Hubby nice distraction for a single gal like me who has to do all the work herself. But I do have my eye on the pair of candlesticks.
This is just awesome! I am getting ready to do this to my Moms fireplace in her kitchen. She dragged her feet about letting me paint it but when I sent her the link to your post she was all for it! Hoping to buy some paint this afternoon and I just might go get it painted this evening!
Did you do any kind of sealer over the paint or would you recommend one? Not sure what water might do to it?