A Simple Fireplace Makeover

Our house has a nice propane fireplace insert that was installed sometime in the early 90's. It is actually not bad looking, it doesn't have the clunky brass surrounds with tiny windows as we saw in a few other homes. It has a nice big glass and fairly realistic looking logs. I REALLY did not care for the surround color. It's was bright brick red...

The surround felt really pieced together.. It also showed that it was not quite the same size on one side vs the other. And though the red was probably designed to go with brick. It didn't match the brick we have.. So I picked up a few supplies.

1. A drop cloth... I used this to protect my driveway from overspray.
2. Painter's tape. I used just a bit to cover the switch.. I didn't want to try taking it off, it was on pretty tight.
3. High Heat black spray paint. Designed for BBQ's and other metals exposed to heat, it's very important to use this type on fireplace projects.

I got out a few tools and started carefully taking apart the surround.

I carefully unplugged the wires from the corner switch and used tape to keep track of what went to what connector. They were not marked in any way and I didn't want to reverse them.

I took the metal panels out to the driveway and gave them a couple coats of paint. Let dry and then put it all back together.. the result...I much cleaner look for the fireplace. It's much more neutral and compliments the decor. It also hides any issues with being square with the insert.

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