Painting a marble fireplace

[jake]

I have a brown marble fireplace that looks awful (everyone I know agrees) Does anyone have any experience of painting over a fireplace. What sort of paint should I use?

thanks

Jake

[Mary Fisher]

We did this once. It didn't look good so we tried to remove the paint.

It had been drawn into the microscopic cracks in the surface and looked dreadful.

What colour do you want to paint it?

Mary

[basil]

It might be worth more than you and everyone you know could ever believe, so try a picture of it on ebay with the words "marble" in description and mention the period its from but dont mention "awful".

[Alan Holmes]

Why on earth would anyone want to destroy a marble fireplace by painting it, regardless of the colour?

[EricP]

Confirmed. These things can have quite surprising prices to the right audience. You might find you have enough to get rid of it, replace it, and have a bit in the bank.

[Andy Dingley]

Shellac undercoat please. Not a bad primer, and it makes cleaning it off easier in a couple of decades' time.

[jake]

Hi Everyone

Thanks for your replies. As for selling the fireplace. I top of the fireplace has a chunk about the size of your fist broken off it (like that when I bought the house). Plus if I sell it on ebay I am in northern ireland making ship it expensive. I may stick it on ebay and see what happens as it is quite big. I am also going to replace the insert to see if that improves it any. I would like to keep it but it just does not look good at the minute.

Because it does not look good in the room there is little point in keeping it if most people including myself dont like it. However if I heard someone was going to paint over a marble fireplace I would say the same.

thanks for your replies,

Jake

[jake]

Hi Mary

I am currently thinking charcoal grey but if I would be happy with white or cream.

thanks

jake

[Mary Fisher]

I think the advice about selling it is the best solution.

Mary

[Rob Morley]

You could always ask any local architectural salvage specialists if they'd be interested.

[Harry Ziman]

This is good advice. Also any fireplace shops in your area, particularly those that deal in antique ones. They can remove and often repair to high standards, sometimes using marble recovered from other pieces.