Project: Fireplace Update

I’ve always dreamed of a lovely log burner or vintage cast iron fireplace, but until budget allows, I wanted to do something to our ‘modern monstrosity’ in the living room to make it feel more ‘us’.

When we moved in, the fireplace looked like this:

As part of the living room decoration, we painted the surrounds in our signature Galapagos green by Valspar, but the fireplace still looked extremely out of place with the rest of our decor.

One Saturday morning I was home alone and bored, and had half a can of Rustoleum Stove & BBQ Paint lying around from when I’d painted a radiator in the hallway. I’d toyed with the idea of doing it ‘properly’ (e.g. sanding it down, priming the marble) before I realised, quite simply, I couldn’t be bothered – and went right in with the black paint.

Considering the tin of paint cost less than £7 and had been used for two projects (the radiators & the fireplace), I was seriously impressed with it’s coverage after just two coats. It’s now January and we’ve been using the ‘new’ fire day in, day out and there are still no chips – it’s one of my favourite budget DIY projects to date.