Winter will be here sooner than we want and we’re getting ready for a season inside. We need something to hang the Christmas stockings on! Even though our house had a lot of original features, all of the fireplaces have been removed and we are left with the bricked up and useless bump outs on the wall that many will be familiar with. We knew from the beginning that one day we wanted to right the wrong that someone committed who knows how many years ago and put back in a marble fireplace and mantle.
Before & After of a painted marble fireplace we recently worked on
Many marble fireplaces that were once beautiful centerpieces in a room are now inexplicably covered in layers of paint. Some homeowners don’t even know what is under it! Then, as if painting them wasn’t enough to hide them from the world, many are then removed completely and left at salvage yards to be passed over by so many people who can’t see the beauty beneath. After a long search for the right one, we have discovered it will be much less expensive to find one of these concealed beauties and restore it.
We had the opportunity to work on several of them recently and we are ready to tackle the process in our own home!
Here’s the process:
Peel Away has been a great material for us to strip paint off marble.
Tools needed:
- proper paint stripping covering (paint suit)
- Gloves
- Paint scrapper
- Sponge
- Bucket (for water)
- Steel wool
- Floor protection
- Peel away (5 gallon)
- 2 paint scrapers
Directions:
- Dust all remnants off fireplace with broom. Remove fireplace hearth
- Carefully (and make sure you’re wearing gloves & have on proper protection) apply peel away to entire fireplace covered in paint. You will want to apply evenly on top of fireplace. Make sure you do not touch the peel away and make sure all parts are covered. We recommend doing one half of fireplace at a time.
- Once peel away is applied one half , apply paper covering to fireplace (peel away will provide). You will want to seal entire fireplace.
- Repeat steps 2 & 3 for other half of fireplace
- Let peel away absorb on fireplace for 48 hours! (The hardest & most tedious part but do not cheat!)
- After 48 hours, make sure floors are covered and gloves are back on! Remove paper from fireplace. You’ll notice gobs of paint coming off…. that means it worked!
- Take a paint scrapper and carefully scrape remnants into trash can
- Add salt mixture provided in peel away tub to clean water in bucket. With a clean sponge, dip into salt mixture water and wipe entire fireplace.
- Repeat until all paint is removed from fireplace. You will need to use steel wool & scraper to get in smaller areas . You will also need to change out water.
We’re on the hunt for the perfect marble fireplace and mantel, but we’re not really concerned if it’s covered in paint. With just a few hours of elbow grease we’re confident we can restore it to its original beauty.
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