Painting a Lava Rock Fireplace


The decision to paint our lava rock fireplace wasn't a hard one. The crumbling porous rocks and general ugliness was practically screaming for a makeover.

 I did a ton of research (online counts right?) on different ways we could update it but in the end painting it just seemed to be the cheapest and easiest option. Now make sure before you start this project you are very patient and have very strong upper body strength - you will need it.

 Lava rock is very thirsty. So thirsty that it drank about 2 gallons of primer. There are so many nooks and crannies that you need lots of different size paint brushes (and a mother in law to help). After several paint samples, we decided on Behr's Cracked Pepper which is a nice dark gray. The TV blends in with it too which we didn't really consider when choosing the color.

 Although not pictured, mounting the TV was not as complicated as it's made out to be. As long as a couple of the holes are flush with the rock, the TV will not budge. I'm not going to pretend I mounted that because I didn't. All I know is that there was talk of a masonry drill bit and some kind of special screw.

This makeover made such a difference in our home since it is the centerpiece of our living room. It makes the room look so much more modern and fresh!

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