Using High Heat Paint to Update a Fireplace

A couple weeks ago a reader asked me if I had ever considered painting the brass hardware on our fireplace. We had completely redone the fireplace surround last year with new tile and Matt even built a gorgeous mantel to go with it. It went from an eyesore to a main focus of the room. The only thing we didn’t do was paint the shiny gold hardware. Actually, I had planned to do so but you know, life. So when my sweet reader asked me this question, it reminded me that yes, I did want to do that! So, not even a handful of days later I picked up some high heat paint to update my fireplace hardware.

Updated Fireplace with High Heat Paint

I’m a firm believer that paint basically has a superpower. It can change the look of basically anything with a stroke of a brush. That’s what happened here. High heat paint is safe for fireplaces or grills and is the perfect easy and inexpensive way to update your outdated fireplace.

The first thing I did was tape off all the areas that we didn’t want paint. Since I used a spray paint, I made sure to cover all the tile work to avoid getting any overspray on that pretty hex tile. Millie and I used some scrap paper to cover the fireplace surround.

After everything was covered and taped up, I used Rust-Oleum’s High Heat Spray paint in a flat black finish to spray paint the brass pieces left on the fireplace. I decided on flat black to match the rest of the black metal pieces of the fireplace.

This paint has great coverage. I held the paint can about 10 inches away from the hardware and sprayed it in an even back and forth motion. I allowed the paint to dry and then painted one more coat. Since the hardware didn’t require that much paint, I decided to use the rest of the high heat paint to paint the inside of the fireplace.

I seriously have no idea why I waited so long to finish this fireplace update. The black hardware really wipes away any remnants of the 90s that were lingering around, don’t you agree? Kathy, thank you so much for reminding me I wanted to do this! This was the best low cost (under $5) high impact project, I’ve done in awhile. It made such a difference.