Good morning friends!
This post has been long overdue, but I kept waiting until the fireplace was completely finished, and I've accepted the fact that none of my projects will ever be completely finished, so why wait? Alex assures me all the time that we will eventually finish our house, but I have yet to believe him. :)
Our fireplace when we moved in was HIDEOUS. Big, wide, ugly bricks with soot stains and a gold fire surround. Not exactly the clean modern look I was going for. However, I didn't want to remove the bricks or start from scratch so I had to figure out a way to refresh the look without changing the base of the design.
First, I just painted over it and thought that would be good enough, but after living with it like that for two years, I realized I needed to find a better solution. The brick was still ugly and very distracting with it's mottled texture so that's when I found out about roman clay. I dove head first into this remodel with a lot of hesitation because I really didn't want to mess it up and regret it later!
If you're starting with brick like I am, here are the steps I took after doing lots of research into various products and techniques. I'm not saying this is the best way for everyone, but it worked well for me.
SUPPLIES
- Wire brush
- Paint brush
- Larsen Plaster-Weld bonding agent
- Structo Lite
- 6 inch putty knife
- Drywall mud pan
- Drywall taping knife
- Drywall mud
- Sandpaper
- Roman clay
- Roman clay sealer
Here was my inspiration photo from BrePurposed, but she did her fireplace over tile so it was a little bit different process. Check out her tutorial here!
Step 1
Use wire brush to scratch up the brick and help the mortar adhere to the surface.
Step 2
Paint on Larsen Plaster-Weld bonding agent.
Step 3
Apply three coats of Structo Lite. First coat straight to the brick. Second coat with the wire mesh to give it form. Third coat to smooth over the mesh.
Step 4
Knock down bumps and ridges of Structo Lite.
Step 5
Drywall mud to create a very smooth surface to apply roman clay. The roman clay requires a smooth surface which is why you can't apply it straight onto the Structo Lite. Sand down edges after mud completely dries.
Step 6
Apply the roman clay. Follow the instructions in this video for the process. After it dries, seal the roman clay.
Voila! Here is the finished fireplace in all it's (almost) finished beauty! We haven't used it for real fires yet since it's been summer and too hot for that, but I'm curious to see how it holds up against the wear and tear as well as soot that will inevitably come. I LOVE the look of it, but not so sure about the practicality of it after noticing that it seems a bit fragile and easily dinged. I'll update the post once we've gone through a winter with it in full use!
