How to Paint a Dated Rock Fireplace

We painted the dated, rock fireplace in our kids’ playroom! Our third home had a great garden level space that we used for the playroom but the giant rock wall made the room feel dark. It is the main feature in the space and I was pretty intimidated to take on this project since it would be hard to hide if it turned out terribly. I am so glad that I overcame my fear of such a permanent change because the fresh coat of paint made all of the difference in this space and it was super simple! This dated fireplace is now a fun focal point for our kids’ playroom. Today I am sharing our step by step process for painting the fireplace in just one day.

Here is a reminder of what it looked like before we painted. The large rocks made the room feel dated and dark. There was even moss growing on them which caused a mess when you rubbed up against it.

There really was no escaping the 70’s vibe in this room.

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How to Paint a Rock Fireplace

Materials Needed

• Wire brush
• Bucket
• TSP
• Kilz
• Interior paint
• 3/4 inch thick nap roller
• Thick, old paint brushes

Step 1 | Clean the rocks with a wire brush

Make sure you wear protective glasses and a mask while brushing off the loose dirt and moss.

Step 2 | Clean the rocks with TSP

I wore gloves and used a sponge to wipe down the wall with TSP and then put a few fans on it to dry. My son, Thomas, is always a big helper with home projects and asked to join in on the fun!

Step 3 | Paint the wall with Kilz

Next, we painted the wall with KILZ to seal the rocks and provide a base for our wall color. We used a thick roller cover and fat, old paintbrushes to get in the cracks of the rocks.

On this particular weekend, my parents were in town to celebrate my birthday. I am so lucky to have hard-working parents who are always offering to help with our projects. We spent our entire Sunday working on this wall and we all had so much fun transforming this 1970’s eyesore into a bright fun wall feature.

Step 4 | Paint the wall

Choose the paint color and apply the paint just like you would for a standard wall. We used standard interior wall paint. We carried the same color on the walls (Sherwin Williams Eider White) of the room onto the fireplace. I wanted the lower half of the fireplace to pop so I chose a dark gray paint color.

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Fireplace After

That was all it took to completely transform this space! This room is brighter and looks much more modern than the dated rocks on the wall.

If you are considering painting a dated fireplace too, my advice to you is to take that leap of faith! I know it can be a tough decision because painting is so permanent, but if it really will brighten your space, I say go for it.

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Want to save this tutorial for reference at a later date? I’ve got you covered! Pin this image below to quickly find reference to this post when you are ready to start your next project.