Wednesday, September 29, 2010

behold! the mantel!

Although my iPhone photo quality is less than superior, I present to thee ...

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Our shiny white mantel!

We've done two coats of semi-gloss white on the mantel and also, on our baseboards and crown moulding. (It's moulding and not molding, right??)

Tomorrow night, we'll be painting the third coat. For that final coat, I'm debating if we should stick with the semi-gloss or go with a high-gloss? From the extensive 1o minutes of research I've done online, the challenge with painting with a high-gloss is that paint brush streaks do not blend as well as they do with a semi-gloss.

So, that's one thing to consider. Another thing to consider is whether or not we paint the bricks around our fire place white? I've seen that look before and like it. Although, it's one of those things you have to be REALLY sure about, because once you paint porous brick - there's really no going back. Much like there's no going back once you chop down a 70-foot pine tree...

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I just hope that we're still feeling as confident tomorrow, as we are tonight, that removing SEVEN mature trees from our yard was a good idea.

(Can you see the guy at the very top of the tree? According to Charlie, he climbed that tree in less than five minutes with only a rope around his waist and spikes on his boots. I don't think I'd make it more than four feet off the ground in ... all day.)

23 comments:

  1. Re: painting the brick fireplace - DON'T do it! If you plan to have fires in it, the white bricks stain from the soot and have to be re-painted often. Believe me, been there - regretted that.

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  2. do you plan on using the fireplace as it was intended? reconsider the white if you intend to burn anything in there. A fireplace insert should perserve the white, if you want to go that way. I've never used the high gloss anywhere in our house, I've been tempted (I think it would look grand for kitchen cabinets)I do think the brush stroke look is an issue. I suppose you could like rent one of those high pressured guns that is used at car paint stores? Candy apple red does have its appeal! nah, then you'd have to be waxing the mantel and mouldings (or is it molding?) all the time. when do we get to see pictures of the kitchen???

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  3. Our fireplace bricks are painted white (by the previous owners). I like it! Go for it!

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  4. Listen to your research - stick to semi-gloss. Trust me.

    And yeah, better to remove those pine trees. They have a shallow root system and could easily fall over in a storm.

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  5. Throwing my two cents in - we have two mantels and both are the original brick. My parents painted theirs and I remember how dirty it got (unless you don't plan to use it much). Maybe live with it for a while?

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  6. Paint the brick white. Paint the inside of the fireplace black. Then, on the dental molding around the fireplace, paint every other "tooth" the color of your wall and leave the other "tooth" white.

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  7. Do NOT, under any circumstances, paint the beautiful brick around your gorgeous mantle white. The brick look is very attractive and I think more people than not appreciate the beauty of that brick look. It makes me crazy when I see painted brick in old homes; many people intentionally seek out homes with brick accents throughout and it's a shame when people paint over them.

    Veronica

    p.s. I love everything you've been doing to the house. I am beyond amazed and impressed by how quickly you dove into all the painting and renovations. How in the world do you fit this all in with 4 small children and a full-time job? How much sleep do you get?!

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  8. Live with the bricks for awhile and then you can always paint them later after thinking about it some more. Love you painting. Hope that you are enjoying your new diggs!

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  9. J~

    The fireplace looks fabulous....I love the way that things are coming along in the house!

    My friend has a white fireplace and she did some kind of crackle paint. Maybe something to think about??

    Susan
    Finley, Jude and Avah

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  10. What a beautiful mantel. I can already picture the stockings hung by the chimney with care!
    I've seen painted brick and like it in some situations when you don't have a beautiful mantel like yours. Although you don't have much brick, I vote "NO" to painting it. I think you might regret it.

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  11. Remove the trees.

    Trust me.

    Our neighbors learned the hard way last March when our area had a wicked nor'easter and seven houses in our neighborhood had large trees crash into their homes. Not good. From the pictures you have shared, it looks like your glorious backyard won't suffer from the loss of the trees. And then there's no worry of them falling and causing damage.

    BTW - the mantel looks great. And I wouldn't paint the bricks. I love the contrast of the brown bricks against the white mantel.

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  12. Your mantle looks like mine. In our old house the bricks were painted white. In this house they are just like yours. I'm probably going to leave them. I kind of like the look of a "raw" fireplace. I never thought twice about the white bricks in my old house though - you really can't go wrong either way.

    PS Stick with the semi gloss.

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  13. you are making great progress on your house! i love seeing all the updates. we are currently remodeling our house as well...every single room. it is a lot of work, but it is satisfying seeing the changes.

    regarding the trees - we had 13 large evergreens removed from our property two years ago. these were huge trees, 5 foot plus diameter. removing them was one of the best decisions we ever made. we have much more light coming into our house and property, plus it gave us room for a lawn for my twins to play. we still have 20 other trees on the property, so we don't miss the ones we removed.

    good luck with the rest of your projects!

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  14. I think painting the bricks white to match would be gorgeous and give the room a very crisp effect. They look like nice bricks as is but I like the all-white look. Personally, I wouldn't go high-gloss but that's just me.

    I also agree with someone somewhere who suggested you paint the dining room red on the top AND bottom. I think it would look great. Or the Oregano Spice on top and bottom with a white (or off-white) chair rail. Again, just my opinion.

    I am impressed with your progress -- the house must already look and feel quite different :)

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  15. VA has plenty of trees....while we were living in Arlington, the 17 year cicadas came. (I guess they hatch once every 17 years?) We had an old oak tree in front of our home. Dear heavens, the bugs!!!!There were THOUSANDS of these bugs. We had them all over the outside of our home. They would fall out of the tree as you would walk from the entrance to our house to our car in the driveway and land on our heads/shoulders...Additionally, you have REAL weather there. Things get blown over all the time!

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  16. Don't paint the bricks! I think it looks gorgeous just the way it is. If the green tile was more neutral like the brick it would help tie it in. But regardless it looks great!

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  17. Christina(pa)9/30/10, 9:46 PM

    Stick with the semi, I did hi gloss and it never cured right and the brush strokes were very visible. Plus is always felt tacky, not smooth. GL!

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  18. Our neighbor put just a little bit of white paint in a bucket of water and sort of "white-washed" (not sure that is the right term) her brick fireplace. It leaves a fair amount of color, but really lightens it up (her brick was very dark brown and dark gray). Since we have the same ugly brick on our fireplace, I am thinking about using that idea. It looks really nice. If you want it lighter, you could apply a second coat or add more paint to the water and do a second coat. Good luck, can't wait to see what you decide to do. Lesa (jgreen@discover-net.net)

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  19. I vote for painting it. The natural brick looks casual for that gorgeous mantle! You guys are kicking it with the painting, good work!

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  20. Thanks for the input on the fireplace ... I never even considered how dirty the white bricks might get. Because YES, we are planning to use that fireplace ... A LOT.

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  21. I would definitely not paint it. It looks to formal with white and you don't seem like aformal family!! That's a compliment!!!!

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