Which white is right?

Hello my friends!  Long time no post for me!  But I mean… It’s been a crazy summer and let’s be honest, I’m just NOT really into this whole blogging thing -laughs to self-😆 …. BUT!!!… I love sharing with you all the projects I’ve been working on to hopefully inspire you to do the same in your homes!! 

So I “white washed” my fireplace… twice…TWICE! -SMH-  Let me explain.

Most everything in my house is an off white, a beige white, a creamy white… You get my drift.  Well I went ahead and just grabbed a can of white paint… Mixed it half and half with water… And painted away!!!  It was looking great as I was doing it… But when I finished, I sat down to admire my beautiful new fireplace and NO.  Just no.  Literally everything in my living room looked yellow.  YELLOW people!  The white paint I just grabbed thinking it was no big deal was super white, hospital white, blue white…. And this cool toned new fireplace I just painted made my whole house look yellow.  Such a silly mistake on my part, but yea, it happened and I thought my fireplace was ruined!!  It was midnight… And I was exhausted… But there was NO way I was leaving my cold, blue looking fireplace as is.  So I went back to my paint collection… Found my tried and true “white” that I pretty much use for everything -Olympus: antique white- and went over it.  Why you ask did I not use this to begin with?  I don’t know!!  I really just wasn’t thinking.  Can you see this color difference?  Crazy I know.

I SO wish I would have taken a full picture of the fireplace before I painted over it… But I was just too ashamed 😆

Here is the before pic of the fireplace.  I also ended up painting the mantle in Annie Sloan French Linen.

Super easy as far as directions go… 

Step ONE: Find a white that is going to match the other “whites” in your home, either cool or warmed toned.  Please do this.  Just please.  Not all whites are created equal.

Tape off your walls- seems obvious but JUST sayin!

Get some sort of bucket, mix about half paint and water.  Not too watery and not too thick.  I wanted to see the natural rock color coming through, so I mine was pretty watery.   I used such a small amount of paint, you could probably just buy a sample size at Lowes for a few bucks and that would be enough to do a standard size fireplace like mine.

Have an old towel on hand that you will probably want to just toss afterward.  As your painting, wipe the excess wet paint off with the towel.  So some paint will absorb, some will be wiped away.  This gives you that white washed look.  

I did not seal my rock with anything when I was finished painting because I didn’t want any sort of shine whatsoever, and I have been loving the look!

Here is my after picture…

Now you guys, if I didn’t have to do this twice (LOL)… It was about an hour that it would have taken me.  That is such a little amount of time for such a big change!  It totally brightens up my whole main area! 

I hope to hear about some new fireplaces from you guys soon!  Please send me pics!

❤️Hailey