Your dark, dingy brick fireplace - wall doesn't have to stay that way. But, remember, painting stone is an almost permanent decision. It will take a sandblaster to get it off if you find you have made a bad choice.

The rough texture of the brick can be smoothed with a wire wheel attached to an electric drill. Since your look is contemporary a smoother surface might be a better match.

For the best paint job, start with a masonry block sealer. This is nothing more than a good quality latex primer. When that has dried apply a layer or two of the color of your choice in flat latex paint. This will give a matte-finished-look, something like slump stone.

If you really want the job to look rich, after about a week, regrout the newly painted face with a light colored tile grout. Instead of using water to mix the grout, use water and glue (70 percent water 30 white carpenters glue). Adding the glue to the grout will help it to stick to the painted surface. If mixing the grout yourself doesn't sound appealing, try using ready-mix grout made by Tilepak. Quite a bit of paint touch-up will have to be done because of the regrouting, but the extra effort will be worth the difference.

It really is very important to thoroughly clean the surface to be painted. Wire brushing and vacuuming is a must.

We wouldn't recommend that you paint the insert. Heat generated by even the smallest fire will damage most non-factory applied finishes.