Crisp Brick Takes Fireplace from Dull to Dazzling

In 2014, when Kaari Sommer, along with her husband Tom and daughter Campbell, moved into their new construction home in Albany, Oregon, they selected every material, design and detail. This included a fine but forgettable drywall surround encasing their Heat & Glo SlimLine 7. The fireplace wall wasn’t awful, Sommer says, but simply not their style, and so it was added to her punch list of home updates.

“We were doing this all on a tight budget, so a lot of what I wanted to do I had to wait until we had saved some money,” says Sommer. “The planning took years, but only because it wasn’t in our budget for a while.”

After five years of living with their original ho-hum drywall , it was time to upgrade to a design more aligned with the Sommers’ clean and classic style. Sommer’s vision for the space: bright, timeless and textured. Think crisp white brick outfitted with a sleek wood mantle and not much more. “I knew I wanted vintage bricks, but I also knew I wanted them painted a bright white to brighten up the space.” Pair the bricks with a white oak mantel, which matches their floors, and ta da! Look complete.

Sommer turned to – where else? – Pinterest for inspiration. “After moving in, I would save images as inspiration until it was time to put a combination of all my pictures together and create what I had envisioned,” Sommer says.

When it was time for the long-awaited renovation, Sommer and her husband tag-teamed their natural handiness and plenty of YouTube tutorials to tackle the project themselves. First, with the help of a mallet, hammer and pry bar, the drywall and existing mantel came down. Then they measured the fireplace and ordered Old Mill’s thin brick in Colonial Castle from Lowe’s. Once the bricks arrived, the Sommers applied a thin layer of tile adhesive to the area where the brick would lay, which set for 24 hours before the brick was applied. Before laying the brick, though, they meticulously taped off their fireplace insert, built-in cabinet next to the fireplace and flooring.

The brick was laid in a similar style to tile, with ¼-inch tile spacers between each brick and tile adhesive placed on the back of each brick, finished with Sakrete’s Type S mortar mix filled between each brick. Then the Sommers patiently let the mortar cure for 30 days before painting it Benjamin Moore Simply White, a relatively short time to wait to create the fresh brick look they pined after for five years. The final step was installing a white oak mantel, a creation of a local craftsman and friend of the Sommers.

“I love our new fireplace,” Sommer says. “Although we use the space the same – a lot! – it feels completely different now. It has a much cozier aesthetic to me, and the whole look is very classic, so it will look nice for years to come.”

Considering a facelift for your fireplace? “Just do it!” Sommer says. “You will not regret it. This took us much longer than anticipated to start and complete the project, but it makes the whole room and I love it!”