Paint a fireplace to look like REAL WOOD!

If you’ve been following along for a minute, you know our fireplace has had several lives. I’ve always had the mindset of wanting to “honor the history” of our historic home, so looking back over those modern and boho iterations of this fireplace make me reeeeally cringe. What was I thinking?

Over the years, I’ve made my way back to a more historical feel, and I love the walnut fretwork we did on the wall above. But I’ve found myself desperately wishing the fireplace surround was a beautiful, rich wood.

We’re lucky enough to find the original blueprints of our home in the attic, so we know that this mantel/surround can’t be stripped. I mean, it CAN, but the wood they used to build it was meant to be painted. This means they pieced together mismatched types of wood, because the plan all along was for it to be painted. So although the paint could be stripped off, it would not be a beautiful, warm wood. It would be a mess.

I grieved that for awhile, but I couldn’t shake my need for it to be wood. So I set out to make it LOOK like wood!

I’ll be honest I wasn’t hopeful that this would work. But I knew I could paint over it if it didn’t turn out. I didn’t want to wonder any longer!

I started out by simply painting the entire thing a chocolatey brown. I don’t remember the shade, but it’s literally the color of a Hershey Bar. Go color-match that at your paint counter! 😉

Once that was dry, I brushed on some Kona Gel Stain (affiliate link) in small sections at a time, and immediately wiped it off with a cotton cloth. This gives the appearance of woodgrain, and there is zero talent or skill involved. Don’t fret about this part! Just go for it!

See how the gel stain stays in those nooks and crannies? Can you even believe how much this looks like wood?

I. am. SHOOK. I did not expect this to turn out so good.

Now I’m keeping my eyes peeled at estate sales and antique shops for a vintage tapestry to hang above instead of that abstract art. Let me know if you find any!

Would you try this technique? We’ve done this once before (remember the doors in our mudroom?) and it always turns out amazing! You can even go for a lighter wood tone if you want!

Be sure to send me pics if you try it! OR tag me on social media! I’m @realitydaydream on all platforms.

Bethany

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Thanks for pinning!