This summer we did a HUGE renovation of our kitchen and hearth room. The kitchen was a total tear-out, whereas the hearth room where we watch TV was more of a “facelift” maneuver. We updated the brick fireplace with stone and a new mantel from designs we found on a post on https://howtohome.com/. And while we hired out the “big” work, I added my finishing touch by making over our old fireplace screen with Krylon Supermaxx paint!
Disclosure: this post is sponsored by Krylon but all images and opinions are my own.
Let me show you the before and after, and then take you through the whole renovation, so you can see just what we started with!
So… yeah. This is our “before.”
The curtains have already been taken down in this photo, but you see the important details: brick fireplace and hearth (which is actually BELOW the grade of the gray tile floor), and yellow walls. I like to joke that our old fireplace (which was built in the former kitchen sometime in the 80’s) looked like a glorified pizza oven. Which I would LOVE if it actually WAS a pizza oven. Because then I could eat pizza and watch TV- but I digress. So it was just kind of dated and sad.
Our first thing was to replace the floors with some new engineered laminate flooring.
Step Two is boxing out the brick fireplace to eliminate all of those “steps”- a clean look from floor to ceiling. We also had a custom mantel built into it, which is also pretty clean and simple.

Boxed out and skim coated with new mantel.
I should mention that this part was done in ONE DAY.
Next… add stone! I went with an “engineered” stone that looks really natural and is “stacked”- no grout in between.
Now we’re getting there! Next… new hearth stone. I used a granite that matched our outdoor kitchen countertop, since the spaces aren’t that far away.

New granite hearthstone.
Then I chose a gray-blue color for the walls from Sherwin-Williams to bring the room together. I wanted it to be cool and bright and a little coastal. (After all, I do live on Lake Erie!)

Click this photo to learn more about the table makeover!
So lastly I needed to “dress” the fireplace- and that’s where Krylon comes in! I had an old firescreen that was a dull copper-penny color, and it just faded right in to the fireplace. I like the design, but it was almost invisible!

See the screen back there? Yeah, me either. Time for paint!!

Firescreen “before”- a dull copper penny color.
I brushed off the cobwebs (the only prep I did) and gave it 4 light coats of Krylon Supermaxx.
I used a lot of light coats to get coverage without drips! And Supermaxx dried in about 15 minutes, so I’d put on a coat, walk away to do another chore, then circle back for the next coat. I got it done in a day.

Krylon Supermaxx to the rescue!
It’s funny how painting the screen white brought out the details.

Remember to use multiple light coats to avoid drips!
After giving the screen a day to dry, I moved it into the hearth room and set up some holiday decorations.
I LOVE it! I used to like this room- it’s really the heart of the home. It’s right next to our kitchen, and it’s where our family spends almost all of our “family time” together…but now I LOVE it. Cool and fresh, more contemporary and classic… it makes me happy. And I’ve fallen in love with this fireplace screen all over again.
So here it is in all of it’s glory. I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and it will inspire you to try updating something in your home with Krylon!
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This looks amazing! Love the choices that were made. And, I love that you kept the screen. The white really pulled it all together.
Beautiful! Love the white/cream color.
The thing I loved the most was the colour of the paint 🙂
….I should have said the WALL paint – oops :p
Your makeover looks fabulous. Great job. Lots of work, but looks terrific.
What a beautiful transformation. Jenny, you did a great job on the fireplace screen. Your Christmas decorations look so pretty next to the stone hearth.
Gorgeous!!! You did an amazing job. That would be beautiful in OUR home! Have a safe, fun & Merry CHRISTMAS…