Had been considering it for some time and hesitated just like you. For some reason it just felt wrong to paint over natural brick. But we did it and I love it. Completely changes the whole room.

Our brick was painted black, we painted it white using a semi gloss paint after primer. Took off the enclosed covering and replaced it with a stand alone modern grill. It made a huge difference.

How old is your house, OP, and what condition is your masonry in? I'm not a fan of the dark red fireplace brick either. I would say yes to painting the brick, but be forewarned that brick is porous and it's hard to go back. Also, if you have any masonry issues (efflorescence, for example) painting can make it harder to detect. Painting can also encourage moisture retention within the wall which could cause damage, but this is usually only a problem on the exterior and in older homes.

We tiled over a painted brick fireplace.

Anonymous wrote:I'm in a similar boat, op. I'll be curious to follow the responses you get. We have a wall of brick with a fireplace in it, and it's yellow brick, which I think is kind of ugly. Bum thinking of painting it white, but the permanence of the change scares me a bit.

I would paint the yellow brick fireplace, to be honest. And I would install drywall over the yellow brick wall.

Anonymous wrote:We painted our red brick fireplace white, and much prefer it.

+1. It significantly brightened up the room and I’m glad we did it.

I haven't but my neighbors did years ago and it looks great- totally lightens up the space. Go for it.

It’s better than ugly red/brown brick. The thing with painting it isn’t that it looks amazing-it’s that it no longer looks hideous so you stop focusing on it when you glance around the room.

Use a clear sealer on the brick before you paint. Not only will it make it much easier to paint (since the paint won't soak in), it will enable you or a future owner to remove the paint in the future.

If you are that hesitant, i would consider tiling/bricking/owning over it. If you end up not liking, you can go back to original

I'm in a similar boat, op. I'll be curious to follow the responses you get. We have a wall of brick with a fireplace in it, and it's yellow brick, which I think is kind of ugly. Bum thinking of painting it white, but the permanence of the change scares me a bit.

Anonymous wrote: Although I love natural brick when it's pretty, we've painted two red brick fireplaces over the years and have been very happy with both. No blistering of paint when we burn fires either. Both times we used Benjamin Moore's White Dove (OC - 17).

Want to add that we used eggshell formula. Some people use semi-gloss.

Although I love natural brick when it's pretty, we've painted two red brick fireplaces over the years and have been very happy with both. No blistering of paint when we burn fires either. Both times we used Benjamin Moore's White Dove (OC - 17).

We painted our red brick fireplace white, and much prefer it.

Thinking of painting my fireplace white. Right now it's an ugly dark red brick color. I don't use it and everything else in my home is white, brown or neutral color.

If you painted yours, do you regret it? Once I paint it...I can't undo it.

Thanks.