You may be asking yourself, can you even paint a rock wall? Yup! We finally painted the dated, rock fireplace in our kids’ playroom! Our third home had a wonderful garden-level space that we used for the kid’s playroom, but the giant rock wall made the room feel dark.

I went back and forth for months trying to decide if we should paint the rock wall and I am so glad we went for it. It was the main feature in the room 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 rock fireplace is now a fun focal point for our kids’ playroom. Today I am sharing our step-by-step process for how we painted the fireplace in one (long) day.
Fireplace Before
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.



How to Paint a Rock Fireplace
Step 1 | Use a Wire Brush on the Rock Wall
Make sure you wear protective glasses and a mask while brushing off the loose dirt and moss. I used a wire brush to remove most of the moss and vacuumed up the debris.



Step 2 | Wash 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 Rock Fireplace with Kilz
Next, we painted the wall with KILZ to seal the rocks and provide a base for our wall color. We used a 3/4 thick roller cover and fat, old paintbrushes to get in the cracks of the rocks. The primer required two coats before the wall was ready for the interior paint.



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 Rock Fireplace
Choose the paint color and apply the paint just like you would for a standard wall. We used standard interior wall paint in an eggshell sheen. We carried the same color on the walls (Sherwin Williams Eider White) of the room onto the fireplace and applied two coats. I wanted the lower half of the fireplace to pop so I chose a dark gray paint color (Sherwin Williams Dorian Gray).



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 rock or stone 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.



Purchase List
- Dropcloth
- Protective glasses
- N95 Mask
- Wire brush
- Bucket
- Sponge / Scouring Pad
- TSP
- Kilz
- Interior paint
- 3/4 inch thick nap roller & roller frame
- Paint tray
- Thick, old paint brushes (fat paint brush)
Looking for More Beginner DIY Paint Projects?
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- How to Paint Your Linoleum Floors
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- How to Paint a Pool
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Pin this image below to quickly find and reference this post when you are ready to paint your fireplace!



Erin R
Wednesday 13th of April 2022
I need to paint my fireplace as well as it has too many different colored stones in it… brown, charcoal, white, it looks like a calico cat… how do I keep the stones I like and faux paint the white stones to give it a more cohesive, natural beige stone look? Don’t want to paint it all one color, just tone down the offending multicolored look?
lindseymahoney
Wednesday 13th of April 2022
Thanks for this question! Unfortunately, I have never done a faux finish on a stone fireplace so I won't be much help! If you decide to paint a few stones, I would recommend using a paint finish that is as similar to the other stones as possible. Good luck!
Karen
Monday 21st of June 2021
I love it and I'm going to do this with my antiquated dirty oversized monster of a fireplace. It's large stone and I can't stand it!!! Yeah!!
lindseymahoney
Tuesday 22nd of June 2021
Yay! I am excited for you, brightening up a fireplace can change the entire mood of a room. :)
Ramneek
Monday 14th of June 2021
Hey, which Kilz did you use? The link keeps leading to the drop cloth instead. Cheers!
lindseymahoney
Tuesday 15th of June 2021
Sorry about that! I updated the links to the Kilz paint I used. Here is the link: https://rstyle.me/+4wTbqISv5j4Vi66C36PJdg
Bill
Thursday 29th of April 2021
This completely broke my heart.
lindseymahoney
Friday 30th of April 2021
I understand that painting natural rocks is not for everyone, but I think it is important to create a home that brings you joy. For me, painting the rocks a bright white made me happy and brightened the room. The rocks were constantly dropping dirt and dust onto the ground and sealing them in with paint worked better for our family with this space being used as a playroom.
Cheryl Hall
Tuesday 15th of December 2020
Will this work on more porous lava rock?
lindseymahoney
Wednesday 16th of December 2020
Hi Cheryl, Yes I believe it would work the same. The primer will be essential to get even coverage of the paint color.