Have you ever used spray paint to faux paint a fireplace mantel?
I have a neighbor who said they refinished their pine mantle by first spraying in a random way, red & yellow spray paint, all over (looked like graffiti almost). After some good dry time she then sprayed black spray paint & allowed to dry.
photo credit: AdamCaudill
Using steel wool she rubbed off the black in areas – which then slightly displayed red & yellow hues.
Followed up with a few coats of Poly for protection and my goodness her mantle looked fabulous. I don’t know how she managed to keep the surrounding area clean. Have you ever done anything of the sort?
Hi Carrie,
Your neighbors painted mantle project sounds very interesting. Do you know if they did this spray paint finish before the mantle was installed? Spray paint fumes can be pretty lethal.
If you are going to attempt this in your own home, you will need to make sure you have the proper amount of ventilation in the room. And you will need to cover everything with plastic to protect from any over spray of the paint.
You can achieve a similar finish with regular latex paint if it would be easier for you. Here are a few simple steps:
1. Sand the surface of your mantle
2. Prime with a good primer / sealer
3. Base coat (2 coats) with either red, yellow or even black, let dry overnight
4. Sponge on either red or yellow (or both) on top of the base coat, let dry
5. Then rub wax on the surface where you would like the distressed / rubbed off areas to be
6. Roll on a couple coats of black paint, let dry overnight
7. Distress the surface with steel wool to reveal the colors underneath.
8. Finish off with a couple coats of water based poly or varnish
This should be a lot easier for you to paint fireplace mantel and a lot less toxic on your lungs. Let us know how it goes. Take before and after photos and send them to us!
Another trick is to Faux Wood Grain Fireplace Mantels
I have attached some photos of my latest project. The after photo is a faux wood grain on the fireplace 4 weeks after we closed. THANK YOU Debra!!!! Your Faux Wood Graining Video is PERFECT!
I love the warm look of wood, but I love that I got that same warm look and feel at a fraction of the cost of replacing the fireplace surround, pilisters and mantel (about $700 to do myself from my local big box store)
It cost me about $30 to do the faux wood graining, only because I experimented with different colors and couldn’t find the burnt umber tint, my store only had raw umber, it was almost black, but I wasn’t sure what color it was supposed to be so I used it, later I went to a different big box store asked the guy at the paint counter and got the burnt umber MUCH BETTER.
I also wanted a darker wood color so in the final product I added a little Georgian Brick to the Yellow Ochre and the colors were pretty darned close to the real oak banister 4 feet away from my fireplace.
I LOVE MY HOUSE! Now I want to do my exterior door! I think I just need to take time to think about what I need in order to do exterior, by the way thanks for info regarding the exterior faux wood graining.
Barbara
