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Discover How to Paint a Dated Rock Fireplace

November 12, 2021

Home Improvement

It is common for people to have an older fireplace in their home, especially since so many regions throughout the US don’t allow wood fireplaces to be constructed along with newer homes. This means the only way to have one of these older fireplaces is by buying a home from two or three decades ago. The issue with a lot of these homes is that the decorating is a little bit dated. This can also apply to the fireplace area. While many types of stone fireplaces can look great with a modern design, sometimes they are dated or damaged, and they need a little bit of love. Painting the rocks of these fireplaces is one way to accomplish this.

For the article below, we are going to explore many different ways that you can update these older fireplaces with a fireplace makeover, including painting them, and we are also going to cover a lot of tops along the lines of fireplaces in general that people need to know about. This includes the real problems with fireplaces that burn wood, the alternatives that exist, and how to get the most for your money with many of these alternative fireplace designs.

For This Guide, We Are Going To Talk About Adding Paint To an Old Rock Fireplace To Make It a Standout Stone Fireplace, and We’ll Also Be Answering Everything Else You Need To Know About Fireplaces In General For a Remodel or Even If It Is a New Home:

If an Architect and Interior Designer Designed Your Home Fireplace Decades Ago and The Rock Fireplace That The Home Builder Installed Makes It Look Quite a Bit Dated, Why Is Adding Paint To The Stone Fireplace a Good Standout Home Improvement Project To Update The Interior Design Elements of The Rock Fireplace?
If You Want To Update The Home Decor Look of Your Living Room or Family Room Fireplace That Has Stone Veneer or Even a Natural Brick Fireplace, Can You Do a DIY Paint Job On These electric Fireplace Mantel Types, or Is This Kind of DIY Fireplace Painting Only Suited For Natural Stone and Authentic Stone Fireplace Designs?
What Are Some Ways You Can Decorate a Modern Fireplace or Accessories You Can Add To Fireplace Design Ideas Involving Cultured Stone, Fieldstone, Or Other Type of River Stone Fireplaces That Are Suitable For Log Homes or The Aesthetic That You Might Find In Log Homes?
Are Log Homes The Only Place Where a River Rock Fireplace, Stacked Stone, or Other Stone Work Involving a Masonry Fireplace, Or Can You Have These Fireplace Types In Homes That Aren’t Log Homes as Well?
When Doing a Fireplace Makeover of a Rustic Fireplace Like a River Rock Fireplace or Stacked Stone Fireplace Surround Commonly Found In Log Homes or a Log Cabin, What Is a Good Living Room or Family Room Focal Point To Hang Above The Mantel Shelf That Works Well With The Great Craftsmanship of The Stacked or River Rock Fireplace?
Regardless of What Home Type You Have, Is Rock and Stone of Different Types a Good Material To Use For an Outdoor Fireplace Like Fire Pits or Other Outdoor Living Style Fireplaces and Should You Fill Your Outdoor Fireplaces With Things Like Fire Glass or a Lava Rock Bed? What Is Even The Difference Between These Two Outdoor Accessories?
What Are Some Good Online Resources To See Pics of Fireplaces and Different Ideas To Design Them as Well as Some Tutorials and Step By Step Guides of How To Do These Different Projects?
What Is The Issues That People Seem To Have With Older Wood Burning Fireplaces and Why Do People Prefer To Look Into Other Options of Fuel Types For a Fireplace In The Home?
Since Wood Fireplaces Clearly Have a Long List of Issues That Make The Bad For Regular Use Within Your Home, Is a Gas Fireplace a Good Alternative To Burning Some Wood For Hate, or Do They Still Have Enough of Their Own Problems That People Should Look Elsewhere For Their Fireplace Heating Needs?
If Both Wood Fireplaces and Even Cleaning Burning Gas Fireplaces Are Bad For a Home, Is an Electric Fireplace The Safest, Most Heat Efficient, and Hassle Free Option For a Fireplace In Your Home? If so, What Are All of The Benefits That Come With Them?
There Is Quite a Large Variety of Electric Fireplaces On The Market, and They Have Varying Degrees of Realistic Success With Their Fire Effects. Which Type of Fire Technology Is Best For Electric Fireplaces, and Is It Better To Get Ones That Have Log Sets Within The Fireplace’s Firebox?
For People That Already Have a Fireplace Inside of Their House That Is One That Burns Wood or Even One That Burns Gas In Order To Produce Heat, Can You Use a Fireplace Insert So That These Older and More Traditional Styles of Fireplaces Can Become Electric Ones? Are Inserts Easy To Install? Can You Use These Inserts For Custom Fireplaces That You Choose To Build Yourself From Scratch?
What About Portable Freestanding Fireplaces? Are These Common Spacing Heating Devices Any Good? Do They Produce Enough Warmth To Heat a Home Like a Real Fireplace? Do Their Fire Effects Look Good At All?
Other Than Inserts and Free-Standing Electric Fireplaces, What Are The Other Commonly Available Types That Someone Might Want To Put Inside of Their Home?
Is MagikFlame The Best Brand of Quality Electric Fireplaces On The Market? What Makes MagikFlame So Special? Where Can People Learn More About MagikFlame, Their Fireplaces, and More?

If an Architect and Interior Designer Designed Your Home Fireplace Decades Ago and The Rock Fireplace That The Home Builder Installed Makes It Look Quite a Bit Dated, Why Is Adding Paint To The Stone Fireplace a Good Standout Home Improvement Project To Update The Interior Design Elements of The Rock Fireplace?

For many people that get older homes with rock fireplaces, it is common for the fireplace to end up looking like something that might be right out of the 70s. While some people might decide that they like this kind of look, others might find that this style looks a little too tacky and they want something more modern so that their fireplace and the room that it is in doesn’t look outdated. Painting the rocks not only gets right of the boring rock color, but it also covers up a lot of the chips, scratches, markings, and other damage that has happened to the fireplace over time. You can paint it bright white to go with a minimal type of decorating style, or you can choose a color that matches the aesthetic style that you’ve chosen in your home. The steps to paint the stones on a fireplace usually goes as follows:

First, you need to clean the existing stone very thoroughly. You don’t want to have any dirt or grime on it messing with the paint job. Make sure you dry it completely before you start painting.

Once the stone is completely clean and dry, you would then paint your base coat. This might be primer, or it could be a starting layer of the specific paint that you have chosen.

Lastly, you’ll want to paint one finishing coat so that there is no blotchiness to the paint and it looks clean and uniform.

If You Want To Update The Home Decor Look of Your Living Room or Family Room Fireplace That Has Stone Veneer or Even a Natural Brick Fireplace, Can You Do a DIY Paint Job On These Fireplace Mantel Types, or Is This Kind of DIY Fireplace Painting Only Suited For Natural Stone and Authentic Stone Fireplace Designs?

While it is always a lot more common to have lasting fireplaces made of real stone that may need to be painted, there is always the chance that you have a faux stone kind of look with veneers or something similar. This faux stone can be difficult to remove and it ends up being a rather tedious job just to get it ready to do something else with the space. As a quicker and cheaper option, you can easily paint any of these faux stone styles of fireplaces, as they can often take paint just as well as any other type of real stone. Keep in mind, some of the materials used for this, may need to have a primer layer added to it so that you don’t have to do too many layers of paint to make it look good. In the end, the main thing that will make the difference is the specific materials it is made out of.

What Are Some Ways You Can Decorate a Modern Fireplace or Accessories You Can Add To Fireplace Design Ideas Involving Cultured Stone, Fieldstone, Or Other Type of River Stone Fireplaces That Are Suitable For Log Homes or The Aesthetic That You Might Find In Log Homes?

Let’s say you have a fireplace with a mantel or a fireplace wall that is made out of some stone that looks much more natural and earthy. Well, if you like this look of nature in your home, you can completely run with this idea and choose many more types of decorations that fit this type of theme. For starters, feel free to bring in a lot of plants and greenery into your home. You can go with very realistic looking faux plants, or you can instead take the time to get real plants and make sure you care for them and keep them looking healthy. If you have a garden outside of your home, you can grow flowers and have flowers in a vase on top of your mantel for each season. If you want to go more of a hunting lodge route because you are someone that enjoys hunting, you can try a taxidermy head from whatever your favorite game to hunt is.

Are Log Homes The Only Place Where a River Rock Fireplace, Stacked Stone, or Other Stone Work Involving a Masonry Fireplace, Or Can You Have These Fireplace Types In Homes That Aren’t Log Homes as Well?

Just because a lot of natural looking stone fireplaces are commonly found in cabins made of logs, hunting lodges, or other wilderness types of homes, doesn’t mean that is the only place that something like this can be used. Many normal, modern homes can also benefit from fireplaces built with stones or a faux stone finish. If you are interested in a specific style of home decorating, especially for a fireplace, and you want to know if it looks well with stone, you can do searches online by combining search times for stone fireplaces with search terms for the decorating style of your choice. For example, you could do a Google search for something like “stone fireplace for homes in a modern farmhouse style” or “stone fireplace for minimalist decorating” and you are bound to find some specific examples of exactly what you are looking for. This will serve as great inspiration for your own decorating and fireplace remodeling.

When Doing a Fireplace Makeover of a Rustic Fireplace Like a River Rock Fireplace or Stacked Stone Fireplace Surround Commonly Found In Log Homes or a Log Cabin, What Is a Good Living Room or Family Room Focal Point To Hang Above The Mantel Shelf That Works Well With The Great Craftsmanship of The Stacked or River Rock Fireplace?

Any time you are going for more of an outdoorsy look to your fireplace, like we mentioned before with other examples of stone fireplaces, it is always fun to bring a little bit of the outdoors to your indoors areas. Greenery was already mentioned, but this doesn’t have to just be the area around your mantel. This can apply to larger, potted plants and indoor trees that are spaced throughout the room that your fireplace is in. Additionally, if you really feel like focusing on the mantel itself, get some great spot lighting to the mantel area, and hang a beautiful painting of an outdoors type of scene. This can be something that you have bought from a local artist, a print from a famous artist that you love, or even something that you painted yourself after following a painting tutorial by someone like Bob Ross.

Regardless of What Home Type You Have, Is Rock and Stone of Different Types a Good Material To Use For an Outdoor Fireplace Like Fire Pits or Other Outdoor Living Style Fireplaces and Should You Fill Your Outdoor Fireplaces With Things Like Fire Glass or a Lava Rock Bed? What Is Even The Difference Between These Two Outdoor Accessories?

Outdoor areas like the backyard are a great place to mix up your decor compared to the interior parts of your home. Even if you have a home where stone doesn’t really work well with the aesthetic look you have, stone almost always looks great for outdoor areas. If you have some sort of outdoor fireplaces of any type, you can easily find them in stone varieties, add stone to the outer body of them, or use stones in the bed or table of the fireplace. Lava rocks are a very natural looking rock bed that gives the outdoor fireplaces a wonderful layer to cover up any shiny metal areas. If you have something like a glass fire bowl, or even a normal fireplace table bed, then you can also fill it with something like fire glass to add some color variety and bring more attention to the fireplace. Fire glass is transparent like glass in many different colors that you can choose from. When the fireplace is on, the glass sparkles and glows as the light from the flames reflects off of it and refract through it.

What Are Some Good Online Resources To See Pics of Fireplaces and Different Ideas To Design Them as Well as Some Tutorials and Step By Step Guides of How To Do These Different Projects?

There are so many great places you can go online for inspirational pictures of different fireplaces in the style that you want, as well as guides that will walk you through how to accomplish some of the trickier builds and projects around your fireplace. Google image searches and Instagram are great ways to find a lot of specific examples and beautiful pictures that you can use as inspiration. Pinterest is another place where you can find a lot of good look examples for your fireplace ideas, but it also has a lot of simple tutorials written on how to make some handcrafted items for your mantel or to decorate your room. Additionally, if you need some serious step by step guides for the harder home building projects like working with recessed walls or building mantels from scratch, you can find a lot of video walkthroughs for things like this by searching right on YouTube.

What Is The Issues That People Seem To Have With Older Wood Burning Fireplaces and Why Do People Prefer To Look Into Other Options of Fuel Types For a Fireplace In The Home?

Because of the long history and the great nostalgia that comes with using wood fireplaces, it is really unfortunate that they just aren’t the best choice anymore and in most cases, they are one of the worst home heating choices you can make. Before we jump right into the issues these fireplaces have, it is important to know what the regular types we are talking about even are:

Enclosed – A fireplace where the front is completely enclosed and secure.
Open Hearth – The most common variation with an open area for fires to be built.
Enclosed Insert – The way that you can turn open hearths into enclosed fireplaces.
Fire Pit – Typically outdoors these days, but have been built into some home styles in the 60s.
Wood Stove – Old fashioned stoves that radiate heat and can be used for some rural cooking.

Now that you know the main types you are likely to see in older homes you might purchase, here are the problems you’ll find with any kind of fireplace in a home that burns wood logs as the main fuel source in order to keep warm:

Fire Safety – Being one of the most flammable types of fireplaces, there is a big risk.
Harmful Emissions – Burning wood produces a lot of smoke and a lot of carbon monoxide.
Hassle – There is no shortage of hassle and work with the maintenance needed with these.
Heat Loss – Chimneys are great for releasing smoke and bad because they release heat as well.
Smell – Houses will always smell bad like smoke when using wood fireplaces.
Stains – The stains of smoke are unfortunate and will yellow walls as well as furniture.
TV Damage – Any TV set you choose to mount above these fireplaces will end up broken from heat and smoke exposure.
Wood Storage – Logs require a lot of space to store them.
Expensive Construction – Out of all fireplace types, these are the most expensive to have built.

Since Wood Fireplaces Clearly Have a Long List of Issues That Make The Bad For Regular Use Within Your Home, Is a Gas Fireplace a Good Alternative To Burning Some Wood For Hate, or Do They Still Have Enough of Their Own Problems That People Should Look Elsewhere For Their Fireplace Heating Needs?

Gas fireplaces became popular for a short time because of the fact that you can still get real flames, but you get something that burns a lot cleaner, so you don’t have as many emissions you need to worry about causing you breathing problems and other issues. To many people’s disappointment, they actually have a good number of concerns themselves. First, any gas fireplaces you are to find in a home or install, can usually be categorized under these two main types:

Ventless – Some fireplaces don’t have as many emissions burning gas, so they don’t need vents.
Venting – Other fireplaces still have a lot of emissions so a venting pipe is needed.

Now, even though the air will be cleaner and the fireplace will be a little easier to maintain, there are still too many important considerations with them that make them not necessarily the best thing to use within your home:

Exposed Flame – The flames being exposed still allow a fire risk.
Some Emissions – No matter how good it is, some carbon monoxide will still be released.
Fire Color – Gas fireplaces are known for ugly, unnatural coloring to their flames.
Weak Flame – Don’t expect to get a good flicker from these fireplaces.
Costly Install – While not as expensive as wood fireplaces, they are still rather expensive and you will need a professional installation.

If Both Wood Fireplaces and Even Cleaning Burning Gas Fireplaces Are Bad For a Home, Is an Electric Fireplace The Safest, Most Heat Efficient, and Hassle Free Option For a Fireplace In Your Home? If so, What Are All of The Benefits That Come With Them?

Although electric fireplaces were known to look tacky and have some really poor fire effects in decades past, over time, they have evolved and the technology inside of them have improved so much that they are actually one of the best fireplace choices for someone’s place of residence. All of these benefits, strengths, and advantages come with electric fireplaces and it is why so many people love them:

Not Fire Hazard – There isn’t a fire risk with these.
No Contaminants – You are free of any nasty emissions.
No Smoke – Your house will smell better and walls won’t be stained.
Easy Use – There is no work or hassle involved with using them.
Easy Install – Out of all three fireplace types, these have the cheapest and easiest installations. You can even do it yourself.
Apartments and Condos – You are free to use them in any type of residence, and it doesn’t matter if you rent or own.
Any Room – Easily install them in any room since ventilation or gas lines isn’t a requirement.
TV Mounting – Mounting TVs above them won’t end up damaged.
Heat Efficiency – No ventilation is great for holding heat in the room.
Zone Heat – Utilizing more than one fireplace can help save money even with large homes.
Remote Control – Turn your fireplace on from your seat.
Flame Effect Ambiance – Get a realistic flame without the problems real flames have.

There Is Quite a Large Variety of Electric Fireplaces On The Market, and They Have Varying Degrees of Realistic Success With Their Fire Effects. Which Type of Fire Technology Is Best For Electric Fireplaces, and Is It Better To Get Ones That Have Log Sets Within The Fireplace’s Firebox?

Fire effects are a big deal when it comes to electric fireplaces. If you get a cheap, generic fireplace with poor fire effects, you won’t be very happy with the end result. It will end up looking completely unrealistic and it will take you out of any immersion that you should have. This is why it is vital for people that really want a realistic fireplace experience to take their time and look at electric fireplaces from brands that are known for quality and matching the atmosphere of a real fireplace. Otherwise, what is the point?

If you really want some of the most realistic fireplace effects that you will find on the market, you need a fireplace with 3D flames, realistic color, and realistic movement. The technology that does all three of these requirements perfectly is Holoflame technology, and it can only be found in MagikFlame fireplaces. The way Holoflame technology works is that the 3D flames are actually holographically projected into the fireplace. They are projected onto authentic looking physical logs, and this combination makes it look like a real fire is burning before your very eyes. Having this kind of realism for a fireplace is vital if they want the room that they put the fireplace in to have an authentic fireplace atmosphere with a warm and inviting glow of coziness.

For People That Already Have a Fireplace Inside of Their House That Is One That Burns Wood or Even One That Burns Gas In Order To Produce Heat, Can You Use a Fireplace Insert So That These Older and More Traditional Styles of Fireplaces Can Become Electric Ones? Are Inserts Easy To Install? Can You Use These Inserts For Custom Fireplaces That You Choose To Build Yourself From Scratch?

If you are reading about electric fireplaces and are annoyed that you’d still have your old fireplace taking up space in your home, an insert is one of the best solutions out there for you. Let’s say you have your old wood style fireplace with an open hearth, and you have painted the stone to update the look just like this guide suggests. Now, you want to convert it to electric so that the fireplace doesn’t go to waste, right? Most quality companies of electric fireplaces offer insert units that are the same as the units inside of their other fireplaces, just without the mantel or other type of housing. These inserts can be placed right into an open hearth fireplace, as long as the measurements are correct, and then you never have to use your fireplace for burning wood ever again. It will function just like a regular fireplace that runs on electricity, while still enjoying your original fireplace body and housing.

Of course, even if you don’t have an older traditional style fireplace that you need to convert, fireplace inserts are actually even more versatile. These same pieces can be used to customize your own fireplace completely from scratch. To do this, either find a third party style mantle that fits the insert, or just go on a home building adventure and put together your own mantel with your bare hands that fits your insert. By building one yourself, you can ensure that the insert will fit it absolutely perfectly. Just be sure that if you are going to build your own that the blowers and the intake of the fireplace are both open so that air can properly cycle through the fireplace. If these are blocked, the fireplace won’t work properly and you could cause damage to the fireplace.

What About Portable Freestanding Fireplaces? Are These Common Spacing Heating Devices Any Good? Do They Produce Enough Warmth To Heat a Home Like a Real Fireplace? Do Their Fire Effects Look Good At All?

These types of heaters are easy to find at any local retail store or even for online delivery. While they have some convenience when you are trying to warm a room that is on the far side of the house, maybe because you have a guest for the weekend, they aren’t really a good solution for any serious kind of fireplace. The truth is, the heat output and lack of efficiency of these devices are really bad. If you also take into consideration that the ones with fire effects are very bad and don’t seem to be doing a good job of replicating a flame, you’ll soon realize these units should always be avoided.

The truth is, these small space heating units will likely never be as good as larger, more permanent electric fireplaces that you’d use in your home. Their size limitation due to portability is their biggest problem. Because you are trying to fit both a heating device and fire effects into a small enough unit to be considered portable, you usually end up doing a very poor job at both the heating and the fire effects. Get a proper type of fireplace for your home if you want a long term solution. If you must have one of these small devices, just get one to store in the closet until it is needed for a little extra heat somewhere.

Other Than Inserts and Free-Standing Electric Fireplaces, What Are The Other Commonly Available Types That Someone Might Want To Put Inside of Their Home?

If you are in the market for a new fireplace and you would like it to be an electric one, the options that are available to you may be overwhelming because there are so many of them. Other that the two types we have already mentioned, here are the other common types:

Mantel Package – One of the most common and also one of the best choices.
Corner Fireplace – Great for smaller rooms where you want to save space.
TV Stand Fireplace – Can also save space, but may have poor heating ability.
Wall Mount Fireplace – Hang your fireplace or install the fireplace within a recessed type of wall.

Is MagikFlame The Best Brand of Quality Electric Fireplaces On The Market? What Makes MagikFlame So Special? Where Can People Learn More About MagikFlame, Their Fireplaces, and More?

MagikFlame is dedicated to making reliable, high quality fireplaces that are completely immersive and give you a great fireplace experience. Here are the features each fireplace comes with that sets them apart from the competitors: