From Gold to Silver

I knew that part of the living room DIY was going to involve the fireplace surround.

While it's not horrible, I knew it wasn't going to fit into the color palette we chose for the room. And to be frank, I wasn't a huge fan of the shiny gold facing. Just not feeling it. Sooooo...that meant that I had to find some way of covering or painting it. I couldn't think of a creative way to cover the gold up (didn't really try) and knew that we might want to use the fireplace even if it doesn't get cold enough around these parts. So I was happy to learn that they make a spray paint for high heat stuff. Enter this product.

But before I could get started I had to do some prep work, which involved covering any nearby surface with either plastic sheeting or the dogs' blankets. Yes, I said the dogs' blankets. They were nearby, dirty, stinky and I didn't mind if they got covered with spray. The dogs might have minded at the time, but they didn't get much of say. Don't worry. I bought them new doggy sized blankets to make amends. We're still friends.

Now, where was I? Oh yeah.

After covering our living room in said material and the fireplace with paper, I got ready to spray. But just as I was about to pull the trigger I noticed this:

Little insets that don't do much other than act as a decorative feature and a pain in my you know what. I'm not technically a perfectionist, but I wanted to do a good job. I put the spray can down and proceeded to fill in each hole with blue painters tape. That's what you see above and below. I filled 21 of those suckers before I could get going again.

I started at the top and worked my way down trying to lay an even coat. So there I am spraying away, moving from top to bottom. As I'm painting the bottom I stop and notice something.

Ugh. 21 more of those little inset thingies are also at the bottom. Yup. 21 more holes to fill. That's when I stopped and thought to myself what now? I did what any self-respecting "do a good job" kinda gal would do. I kept going.

Folks, I was tired and while I was only slightly annoyed by my discovery, I just didn't care. Besides whose gonna notice anyway? Well, just those of you who might visit me on a fairly regular basis. And even then, I think I can remove the paint from the insets. Not sure how, but I'll find a way!

So, after a few minutes I laid a second coat. The fireplace went from this:

To this:

Hiccup aside, I think it looks pretty dang snazzy. Now I just need to paint the mantel and this little project should be done! On to the next one. Kitchen cabinets...dun dun dun.