I recently whitewashed our brick fireplace and was hoping someday I would have time to stain our mantel black to match the bookshelves in our great room. Our great room is the main room of our house that we all hang out. Any project in our there requires strategic planning. With Adam off work for two weeks, it gave me a little extra time and help with the kiddos to be able to tackle this project.

Here is what it looked like after whitewashing but before staining.

First, I covered the hearth and carpet with a canvas drop cloth to reduce the chance of a major accident.

Next, I lightly sanded the wood to remove the old finish. It also removed some bird poop looking paint spots from the spill I had while whitewashing. (Oops!)

Then, using a rag, I wiped off all the dust, dirt, and gunk.

Finally, I applied Rust-Oleum Ultimate Wood Stain in ebony with a paint brush to the mantel.

I worked in small sections.

After about 2 minutes, I used an old rag to wipe off any excess stain that did not soak into the wood. I chose to skip a finish on the mantel because it is not an area that gets a lot of use.

We love the cohesive look this gives our great room and I am super excited I didn’t spill any black stain on our beige carpet. Whoohoo!

Smack dab in the middle of the largest wall of our great room is a fireplace. The brick was a reddish-orangey-brown color. (That’s right. It’s a real color.) Our house is mostly decorated in black, white and gray so this color was just not meshing very well. I love the warmth the brick provided and I thought whitewashing the whole area would still give us that, but mute the color a bit. Check out our Whitewashed Brick Fireplace!

I was a bit hesitant to make this commitment because once you paint brick, it’s hard to reverse the process.

But one night when my husband was out of town and the kids were tucked cozily into their beds, I finally got up the courage to do it. You know what they say, “When the cat is away, the mouse will paint.” Or something like that.

First, I prepped the area by removing all things I didn’t want to get paint on and covered the floor with a drop cloth. We have cathedral ceilings so I also pulled out our ladder to make sure I could reach the top.

Next, I combined my concoction of 1 part white paint to 1 part water in a five gallon bucket. Once mixed up, I transferred some to a handheld paint pail and up the ladder I went.

Starting at the top and working my way down, I brushed the paint onto the bricks and the grout. (This brush is awesome!) I worked in small sections. After I let the paint soak in a bit, I wiped off the excess with an old rag and moved onto the next section. I repeated these steps until the fireplace was complete. This was a very messy process, but maybe my clumsiness is partly to blame. I did drop the paint pail once, as you can see in this picture.

What do you think? I absolutely love the way the texture of the brick shows through the paint. One day, I am hoping to stain our mantel an ebony color to match the decor in the rest of the room. More on that later.