A hole of a different color

There's a Rust-oleum Revamp party at Shanty 2 Chic going on right now, and it's also DIY Day over at A Soft Place to Land, and I haven't participated in a few weeks. Mainly because I've barely found time to breathe and take care of my family, much less to DIY something to within an inch of its life.

But I'm BACK IN THE SADDLE. Because our fireplace was about to become the focal point for the holidays that it usually is NOT, I felt like the time was nigh to finally rid it of that nasty brass sheen it had going on.

VERY brassy.



Mind you, if I had my druthers, I'd rip the entire thing out and start over from scratch. However, I do not have any druthers, so I opted instead for two cans of this:



... some painters tape and an old Parenting magazine that I dragged out of our recycling bin for this express purpose. Total cost of this project: less than $14 (I had to use one and a half cans of the paint). It took less than two hours from start to finish (without interruption ... I did it the day after we returned from Thanksgiving in South Carolina, in between loads of laundry while the kids were at school).

First I used a dry paper towel to wipe all the dust away. Then I lightly sanded the brass, going in two directions.



Next, I ripped up that Parenting magazine and taped it to all the surfaces I didn't want painted. This took approximately 10 times as long as the painting itself did. It probably took me 45 minutes to do this part ... I WISH I were exaggerating.



Then I sprayed one coat, waiting 45 minutes and sprayed a second coat. Here's the Before one more time:



And the After:



Before:




And After:



And then I hung my stockings up to complete the holiday look:



I do feel as though it looks KIND OF like a big black hole now, but honestly, I find it a vast improvement over the big brass hole.