What is the age of your house?

Is the window trim painted now, or is it just a dark stain color?

House is from the 20's. Trim is a dark stain. I'm finding it hard to modernize hence want to see how it may look white. Having fireplace painted next week.

I can do a little mock up for you but not sure I can eliminate the clutter on and around the fireplace. That is part of the issue here. So let me see what I can do. bbl

Here is a rough mock up of the fireplace brick with white simulated. I put a block of color over the fireplace to give a clean background and put a decorative mirror centered with a pair of sconces either side. I also put darker wood roman shades at each window and I have another idea I think might work better. See what you think.

This is black around fireplace with similar pieces. I think the black looks much better and coordinates with the dark woodwork around the windows, etc. I would go darker rather than white. Just my opinion. Ha! I just saw Beth's post. She and I are on the same page.

The plain mirror you have there won't work so that would have to be replaced to make everything come together. I think with the black, the border around the firebox might still work, if not that would have to be painted black with paint designed for use on metal around heat source.

lol. perfect flo! love the black one. then get a black and white rug like in the first pic I posted w/tv above mantle. would look good!

You could do a rug with black and golds and that would work with your sofa and be kid friendly. Here are 3 piled up.

Please don't paint the fireplace. Your house is NOT a contemporary house and once those bricks are painted, they are ruined. The best interior designs work with the character of the house.

Also, if you ever intend to sell, people who want old houses want them with the old stuff intact. In fact people will pay extra for details like that. Old houses that are fixed up keeping the beautiful details sell at a premium versus those that have been painted and made to look like the trend of the day.

Instead paint the walls a pretty color and bring in more contemporary design elements with furniture, paintings, etc but please don't paint the fireplace white.

Conversely, people who like modern but can only afford an older home will like it. Paint away!

ETA: bethh provided wonderful examples

I'm afraid in my area people pay premium for modern, and not for original brick. Unless the house is in better shape than ours, the woodwork etc isn't valued.

I like the images Flo but I'm afraid I'd never do black, just not my style plus need to brighten the space.

Would anyone be able to show the fireplace white AND window trim white to either side? That's what I hope to do here.

Again, if our wood trim weren't so ugly dark stained I'd consider leaving unpainted but it's not a pretty shade and I've been told even trying to remove that stain might not fully work. Otherwise yes I'm a big fan of natural woodwork trust me!

My sister just whitewashed her fireplace - a similar look to yours.

Who wants to live in a house they don't feel good in? Not me! I say paint it if it makes you happy.

An "after" shot of my friend Jennifer's 1912 Montclair, NJ, craftsman:

chalkfarmhome.com

So I can imagine that house might have had nice wood trim, now white. My house isn't really a craftsman. It has nice trim but not that nice. Especially not on the fireplace.

What is the style of the house?

As for the wood trim, you can try in an inconspicuous space with some rubbing alcohol to see if the shellac comes off which will lighten the trim somewhat. Even though it's not technically a craftsman might I suggest perusing the following forum? They might have other advice how to lighten the trim.

Can you take a closeup of the wood to see what kind of wood it is?

Also I like the idea of whitewashing the brick as opposed to obliterating it completely.

So I can imagine that house might have had nice wood trim, now white.

Some wood was never meant to be stained but always was painted. Yes even in older homes from the 20's. My old 1927 house never had stained wood and had always been painted. I knew this for a fact because we had bought the house from the original owner's daughter.

However if there was beautiful wood such as oak, douglas fir, etc then painting it really takes away the beauty and charm just to HGTV the house.

I feel passionately for a number of reasons. One being that in my neck of FL, we looked for 2 years for an older house with charm. However every single house we found had been stripped of the charm for whatever the latest and greatest trend was at the time. We looked at houses with the latest trends from the 60's on up to the early 2000's. Beautiful woodwork had been painted over or even worse removed to make the house more "modern".

On the outside the house still looked charming but the interiors had been ruined. And now most of those are being torn down to build large monstrosities.

One more thought. Once you paint, you'll have to continually touch up. Stained wood is a heck of a lot easier to care for than a painted surface. Including the fireplace brick.

Interesting re the rubbing alcohol. Will have to try it.

But the brick i can't feel too attached to. It's not that nice.

?

We have a painted FP in east TX that was painted 20 yrs ago and not again. Since it is used often in winter, It does have the black soot spot from use but not practical to paint often cause soot just comes again, soot also appears on brick FPs. I guess only way to avoid it is to keep FP doors closed but we keep them open for extra warmth.

This is what it looked like before, Erica (sorry I don't have a photo of the fireplace before it was painted):

As you can (hopefully) see, the woodwork wasn't extraordinary; it was just whatever was typically used in an upper middle class suburban home, in that area, in 1912.

Black soot marks come from a chimney that is not functioning properly so if you haven't had that checked, I would @bossyvossy. Older chimney's need care and sometimes they were not built high enough to obtain a proper draw. Or if they have a damper, people haven't opened the damper and you get back flow of smoke. Anyway, Erica, you need a master plan for what you want to do, because a lot of the information you have now posted wasn't in the original post. So, if you are going to paint all the walls and trim, figure that out first, then think about what you want the fireplace to look like and what will work best in your room. Otherwise you will be redoing the fireplace or trying to backfit a look. Here are some questions to resolve. Will you be keeping the furniture you have? Will anything you are keeping drive color choices? What style preference are you hoping for? What child proofing needs to be considered? Do you have any animals that might come into the picture? Do you have specific desires for placement of the TV? What condition are the floors in? Do you plan to refinish or replace? What lighting is in the space, does it need updating. Just go from top to bottom in the room and think everything through. It will save you tons of work and money in the long run. Then once you have a list of everything you "want" to do, you can take it a step at a time as funds allow. Good luck!

So, Flo I've been working on the decor for some time. Actually we already decided to paint the FP white. I just hoped someone could do a mock up with white window trim as well since I'm terrible at photoshop. That's all.

@flomangan, thanks. A few times we forgot to open damper, a few others we put and burned much firewood too fast and fire was bigger than chimney could efficiently handle, and continued use will have a role in it

erica, it's gonna look so nice.

Ok for instance, here's a home just like mine from my neighborhood. So I guess it might turn out like that? Any thoughts on this...I like the decor style.

Erica, I can do your fireplace and window casings in white. Give me a few minutes.

Yes, do exactly what your neighbor did. Paint the baseboards, too, and paint out the brass.

And the mantel:

groveraxle is so good at the photoshopping. Thanks groveraxle!! Looks so much better. Erica M - if you could post a few more photos we could help more, but if you do the baseboards and other trim in your white and walls in a light color too, you will get the overall white you wish. Now your neighbor's house looks like they redid the floors perhaps lighter, but I don't think that is a big impact. Their windows are higher and smaller too. So won't be exactly, but surely can lighten things up! Good luck. Keep us posted on your progress.

@bossyvossy, glad you understand the fireplace situation. Always worries me when I hear or see that because many a house fire has started with a chimney fire. Take care, glad you are on top of that.

yes that's a nice trendy look your neighbor has. How will you feel about that look in a few years when that is no longer the trend? Maybe in a few years natural wood with tan walls will be all the rage. Then what?

cp,,,it's just paint. i'm sure in a few years a different coat of paint can be used. or, maybe tiling the fireplace will be next.

Erica, have you ever thought about tiling or refacing over the brick?

I love the room you posted from your neighborhood. With what I can see of your mid century furnishings it will be great. Hope you let us see the after pictures and a bit more of your room.

PS. Mid century is a style-not a trend that's going away.

It would be nice if those who claim to be "pro" had masonry stain in their repertoire - less damaging than paint - doesnt clog the pores, retains natural texture vs. the cheap plastic look. Paint can cause terrible spalling - maybe not an issue so much on interior fireplace, but certainly on exteriors like the red brick houses y'all detest so much, and interior walls which are exterior on the other side (example: my basement wall now crumbly in many places thanks to choices made by several decades of ill-informed PO's)

Jans- midcentury is a style, but the 20-teen interpretation of mcm is a trend. As is the 20-teen interpetation of the supposedly "classic" white subway tile kitchen, etc.

"Nice" wood vs. not nice wood. Hmmmm. Mostly I would not fuss about people painting their trim if it was say post war or later. But when yall dismiss early 1900s wood as "ordinary" thats where I have to argue. fyi most of the wood then was not farmed as it is today, but came from the old growth forests that once covered most of north america - hard as nails with incredibly tight beautiful grain This stuff is valuable! If you dont believe me go look in an architectural salvage place and see what prices they are asking and getting for vintage wood - even the supposedly lowly yellow pine.

CP - I dont understand it either. Perhaps its a generational thing - haveing lived as a young student in the 1980s in urban slumlord apartments with every surface thick with multiple layers of paint - what we called "landlord white" - Im not quite understanding why anyone would willingly go down that path! It looks nice for about 5 minutes (the time it takes to snap the picture) then starts to look dinged up mighty fast.

Ok those of you who love my wood trim. This is beautiful? This is salvageable? Come on.

Also my understanding is as mentioned above, maybe the fireplace can later be tiled or redone it's not totally gone once painted.

but, I am someone who grew up in a craftsman which had had all the wood trim removed before we moved in. My parents spent years adding back in wood trim. And we had a fake brick fireplace (who knows what happened to the original) which didn't function, was sold with and electric insert. So I understand the sentiment which is honestly why we haven't painted it yet after 2 years here...

I hope, if you do paint this wood trim, you know how to prep probably oil based surface so latex paint doesn't peel off it. Ask your painter and if he or she doesn't know what you are talking about, don't let them do another thing.

lol. erica, it's your house. I don't have a problem with painting it. you guys up there are talking like she has some classic arts/crafts bungalow w/coffered ceilings and quarter sawn oak trim! Her trim isn't even oak. and are we sure it's original to the house or did someone down the line stick it in here? whatever. It's already covered in something so it really doesn't matter. Paint away.

I dunno, Erica. Kinda looks like it has been...dare I say it,...painted! Yes, painted brown, Im almost positive. If its already been painted, then yes, you can be granted special dispensation by the old house gods and allowed to paint it white.

Beth, I stand by my earlier statement that vintage old growth heart pine has value, esthetically and in dollars and cents terms - salvage prices for it have surpassed oak in some instances unless we are talking about quartersawn. Its really all supply and demand, economics 101.

I didn't disagree with you Current, but this has already been painted or stained. Now, if she wants to strip all of it and see what the wood looks like, hey, go for it!

I'm a wood person and would normally choose to leave things in their vintage state. especially old growth wood.

Well, it's dark but I can tell it's not painted. Does that change my dispensation? But yes Beth exactly, it's not exactly pristine or some kind of lovely vintage masterpiece. ??

It may be the dreaded java gel stain - that was the big trend of a few yrs ago LOL. It might as well have been paint- actually that stuff kinda, sorta is.

Ah well. Win a few, lose a few.

If you are planning to paint anyway, why not try some cleaning up of the current finish and see what you can get? First thing is just a good cleaning might bring out something more pleasing to your eye. I would start with alcohol (rubbing alcohol is fine for testing shellac finishes but to clean shellac you need denatured alcohol). Then, try some lacquer thinner to see if that takes off any of the dark finish.

I will give it a go. And will share results...

Ok so...any suggestion as to if I need to tint the white paint and what shade? I just got regular BM white semi-gloss, untinted. I can use it straight, but should I? Need to decide fast thanks!

You can try it like that and if it seems too white, take it back in and have it tinted a bit! Paint is a glorious thing.