If you’ve recently bought a home or have been looking for one, chances are you’ve seen some pretty outdated houses. When my fiancé and I bought our recent home it was mint 70’s. And, I mean mint as in the paint colours. Such a bad look that should never be repeated. But, we loved the location and the lay-out of the house, so put in an offer and moved in nearly 3 years ago. We’ve been slowing fixing it up to bring it into the modern age and it’s starting to look pretty good! One of my favourite parts of the house is the living room with a large open window, easy access to the dining room and kitchen, the front porch/deck and a large enough wall that will (hopefully one day) be knocked open into a wrap-around deck. Now, that wrap-around deck has no corners that can be cut and will take us years to get to that level, but the fireplace? Yep. Definitely something I could change, easily, with a little bit of work and about $20 in spray paint.
I picked the more expensive spray paint (because that’s just how my brain works without me even seeing the price tag I automatically choose the more expensive one) as it went with the colour scheme I was cooking up and would make the area pop. The drab cement wasn’t doing it for me and wasn’t doing anything for the room. The wood and copper colouring in the room meant that I should go with a similar colour for the cement.
I took a few days to decide on the colour and you should, too. I’m pretty good at making quick decisions, even when it comes to paint, but if you’re looking to save money, improve a room, and do it in as little amount of work as possible; taking your time comes in handy. Try out a few colours in your mind, ask someone you trust for honest opinions and try to take a colour that will go well with the area. I cannot stress that enough. If you’ve a grey and modern space that you want to keep looking grey and modern with neutral colours, adding a large focal point of bright green or purple isn’t going to make your day. Save those pops of colour for couch cushions or coasters. If you’ve a farm-house kind of living room going on with lots of warm and coppery tones mixed with all the wood in the world, well, a copper is probably going to be a pretty safe bet.
First clear everything off of the fireplace and surrounding and give the area you are painting a good wipe down. You don’t want little bits of dust spray painted right onto the mantel. Make sure that you have proper ventilation when doing any spray paint project.
Second, because spray paint can be messy (and I make everything ten times messier) I taped off most of the floor, stone surrounding the fireplace, and walls surrounding with garbage bags and drop cloths. I took down my curtains and moved the bench clear out of the way in order not to have residue lingering in the air and falling onto their surfaces.
Third paint the areas you wish with the spray paint, taking care not to get a little too crazy and stay on the medium you’re updating. Depending on the colour and the surface, you may need to do a few coats. I ended up doing around 3 for mine as the cement soaks up the colour really quickly and I wanted a rich tone.
The whole process took just one day to complete (including drying time) and my fireplace looked more chic and became the beautiful focal point of the room I knew it to be.
