A Change in Scenery

In our living room we have a large fireplace that was built in some time after the house was built.  It takes up a LOT of space.  Someday we plan to remove it for more room.  But until that day, I have become tired of looking at this large, red object.  So, I got the brilliant idea to paint it.  I looked online for ideas and found lots of pictures in great colors.  Deciding on white to brighten up the room, I headed out to Home Depot for some paint.

Paint was the only item I intended to purchase there, but since summer is ending I thought I might take a look at the garden department.  I ran into an old friend that I haven't seen in a while and we got to play 'catch up'.  That is always fun.  Then I continued on with my adventure. There were patio umbrellas on sale for half off.  Our umbrella died several years ago and hadn't been replaced.  Of course, they had a pretty aqua umbrella!  My favorite color!  "I sure wish I could have this," I thought.  Wait!  I have a VISA gift card in my wallet. I will use it for this purchase.  Then, lest I find more treasures, I went to the paint department and bought my gallon of Swiss Coffee by Behr.  I walked out of the store with my $28 gallon of paint and my $30 umbrella, but spent just $3.00 out of pocket.  What a great day.

Yesterday, I got up and began my work of painting the bricks.  Starting out with a brush, I soon discovered this would take hours, if not days, to complete.  I ran downstairs and dug out the tray and roller.  My husband keeps a good supply of roller covers and I found one for rough surfaces.  It proved just the thing for the bricks.  I was even able to press it into the cracks to get the mortar painted.

I know that many of you readers will like the way it looked originally better than how it looks painted white.  I am not even sure how I will like it over time, but it definitely brightens up the room. It was a lot of work to paint it, so I have no plans of changing it anytime soon.  :~: