The Fireplace That Took Years To Paint

When we first moved into our house I swore I wanted to paint the fireplace right away. Fast forward seven plus years later and it still sat in the original red brick glory.  Now it is also four kids later, and I get an itch to paint it after seeing a 40% off sale email from Sherwin Williams in my inbox at a 3am feeding.

Here is a picture of the fireplace prior to painting. 

We first wiped down the fireplace with Simple Green, and then dried it off with a towel.  I purchased the masonry primer from Sherwin-Williams that was approximately $54 a gallon prior to the sale discount. It took a half a gallon for the size fireplace we have.  You must wait 24 hours prior to painting. I assumed we wouldn't tackle this project any time soon, but Rob got started as soon as Wynn and I got home with the paint.  The new paint job is Davis approved.

Then we used the same colors we have in our master bedroom to paint our family room.  The fireplace was painted with Sherwin-Williams Amazing Gray along with three walls. The wall adjacent to the fireplace and behind our bookcases was painted with Anonymous Gray.  It took approximately one coat on top of the primer using a roller. We used a brush to get any deeper sections of brick that needed to be coated better.  We used their Harmony line with no VOC's in the paint.  

Now the mantel really stands out and does not blend into the brick.  I was so happy that Rob did this project and painted all the walls in this room in a day and a half.  The next weekend he even took out our ugly florescent box lights and put in some recessed lighting.    Who knew you could get more done in the house with four kids versus zero?

Fall Wreath and the New Addition

I have been missing in action over the past several weeks. I did actually have a really good reason to be. On August 12th, I gave birth to our fourth child. Our newest addition is our sweet little boy who weighed close to ten pounds. My biggest baby by far. I'm not quite sure how he got that big considering I moved more and had most of my meals eaten by two growing one year olds. It feels like he has already been a part of the family. I am sharing a cute little picture of him at the bottom of this post. 

Well, I really wanted to incorporate a new color scheme to my fall decor. I picked up some navy chevron burlap ribbon from Michaels. Using a straw wreath with the plastic covering still in place I wrapped the wreath with the burlap ribbon. Then I took the fall themed arrangement from Michaels and attached it to the wreath with floral wire. 

I made a simple bow from burlap ribbon and brown satin ribbon to top off the wreath. I wanted simple and sweet, and something I could make between feeding the baby. Although, this one was also made with the twins hovering at my feet wondering what I was doing and asking all sorts of questions.

Glad to have something on our front door that says we are ready for the change in season. Even though this week we are still going to be in the low nineties and high eighties temperature wise. Have a great week!

Now here is the picture I promised I would share of our sweet boy.