German schmear fireplace

KellmarPark

🖼️

The project:

The old dark bricks had to go! This was the real estate photo from when we bought this house. Lucky I can see past current to see what it could be.

- Materials:

Only one thing was used to create this German Schmear look. Good old builders cement.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/australian-builders-20kg-off-white-cement_p0135870

- Tools:

Bucket, trowel, sponge and lots of patience.

- Step 1:

Clean off bricks, remove timber mantle and lay down drop sheets.

- Step 2:

Trowel on the mixed cement into all of the gaps then smooth over with a wet sponge, making sure to leave some parts of the bricks exposed.

- Step 3:

Working in sections over multiple days my vision started to come to life.

- Step 4:

I then sanded the mantle and reinstalled it. Also painted the interior of the fireplace black (this fireplace is no longer used as an active fireplace)

Then it was onto styling.

- Step 5:

I styled with a mix of old and new pieces I had collected over the years, including a Facebook marketplace chair and my late mother in laws bookcase.

JacobZ

Hi @KellmarPark,

The German schmear finish has made a massive difference to the fireplace, softening the dark brickwork while still allowing some of its original texture and colour to show through.

Working in sections was a sensible approach, and the restored timber mantel and black-painted firebox frame the result nicely. The mix of collected and meaningful pieces also gives the finished space plenty of character.

Thank you for sharing another wonderful project with the Bunnings Workshop community.

Jacob