Tony and Mia are good friends of ours, and both of our girls attend the same kindergarten. Mia is a busy mother of three who works four days a week at her own salon . The last thing she wants to do when she gets home from work is begin a home repair project.

When you enter Tony and Mia’s home, you always experience a sense of warmth, from the warm colors of the walls to the rich, rustic wood furniture to their dog waving her tail to welcome you. We enjoy visiting them since their home truly does feel like a home away from home.

Mia therefore asked me what to do with her oak fireplace surround when I was in her family room the other day. She knew she didn’t like the natural oak finish but wasn’t sure if she wanted to replace it or color it. Despite the fact that the wood tone clashed with her dark wood floors and furniture, the room had incredibly classic lines and was in excellent condition overall.

I swear I heard the mantel murmur, “Paint me, I beseech you,” as I leaned in. I thus suggested that we paint it white to match the woodwork and brighten the wall. Additionally, a white fireplace mantel is just classic. So, with just some primer, paint, and accessories, I gave her fireplace wall a brand-new look in less than four hours.

As Mia Before:

Here’s Mia’s Post:

Wonderful, isn’t it?
The details are what make the difference!
The three issues that required attention were as follows:

Before I restained and glazed my oak staircase banister last year to give it an espresso finish, I refinished natural oak, and I also primed and painted oak white.

One coat of priming and two coats of paint were needed to update Mias mantel.
I taped off the mantel surround first, and then I painted it with an oil-based primer.

Because it covers oak rather well and covers up a lot of the gritty texture that is characteristic of this type of wood, I enjoy Zinsser in the brown can.

I then used some of Rustoleum’s high heat paint, which I had previously used on my fireplace the previous year, to paint the brassy doors.

The look of the doors was drastically altered by two coats of this solution used with a little paintbrush.
Long live the gleaming brass trim!
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Greetings, seamless black!
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I primed her mantel on Friday, returned on Saturday to give it a moderate sanding, and then painted it with two coats. She currently has walls painted in Benjamin Moore’s Butternut Squash, and the white paint is Swiss Coffee in semi-gloss.

Mia’s new mirror, which draws natural light from the opposite wall of windows, can be obtained at salon 2 for low-cost home decor.

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Mia is in awe at how beautiful her new fireplace looks!

Don’t you just adore the contrast between the white and chocolate in her house and the spiciness of the colors? Now, the stunning Butternut Squash paint on the walls, the white fireplace mantle, and the black fireplace box are all brought together by the granite tiles.

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With a little paint and embellishments, anything can look spectacular!
What’s on your list to update right now, how about yours?
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