I think either you’re okay painting over wood trim, finishes, etc… or you’re not. I fall into the first category. I would have said “I fall into the former/latter”, but I’m never quite sure which is which. When we bought our home five years ago we loved all the lovely wood finishes. One wood finish I never loved was our fireplace. It definitely isn’t the original. I would sit and stare at it and wonder, what would make you better? The answer was black paint.

I sanded the heck out of it. Which was a super pain in my rear (or should I say arm!) because there are lots of grooves that a power sander just can’t get. Anyhoo, once it was sanded down, I gave it a good cleaning and got straight to work.

I probably should have primed it, but I didn’t. I didn’t have any primer in the house and didn’t want to leave. I just wanted to get the project done once I’d started. So, I just went for it and threw the black paint on. It worked perfectly. It’s been done for some time now and we love it! Oddly enough by painting it black it stands out less than it did when it was natural wood, but still makes a great statement. Where do you stand on painting wood finishes?