The Original Fireplace Tile Was Almost Lost Until They Painted the Brick This Color

When Maudie Francek and her husband, Ronnie, started work on the living room of their 1928 Milwaukee bungalow, beige covered the walls and brick fireplace. Even the patterned tile at the hearth struggled to stand out against the brown-beige surround.

The couple wanted to keep the home’s original details rather than replace them. After cleaning the hearth, they found green-brown tones within the old tile pattern. Those small squares became the reference point for a much bigger color decision.

Instead of stripping the already-painted brick, Maudie and Ronnie painted the fireplace Sherwin-Williams Andiron, a deep green that can read close to black. Photographer Travis Frangie of Evening Cue captured the finished home, while Maudie shared the project through r.m.hammer.

Beige covered the fireplace and much of the room

Before work began, beige brick surrounded the firebox, with a lighter border around the opening and a wood mantel across the top. Beige walls extended the same muted palette across the living room.

A television mounted above the fireplace pulled attention upward, while the patterned hearth occupied a narrow strip at floor level.

Original tile was hiding at the base of the fireplace

A closer view shows what the room-wide photo misses. Small terracotta pieces form a geometric pattern across the hearth, punctuated by groups of green squares.

Years of use had left the surface dark in places, but the pattern was intact. Maudie and Ronnie scrubbed the tile rather than covering it.

Warm woodwork already connected the adjoining rooms

Original wood trim surrounds the window and runs along the baseboards, while another arched opening leads into the next room. Those details gave the couple another material worth preserving.

During the renovation, they refinished wood on the alcove shelves, baseboards, trim, and French doors. The restored wood would later sit between white walls and the dark fireplace rather than another layer of beige.

Paint preparation exposed the contrast around the fireplace

With the television removed and surfaces taped, the relationship between the fireplace, alcove, and textured walls became easier to see.

The brick remained brown-beige at this stage, while fresh white paint had begun changing the surrounding walls. Instead of removing the fireplace paint, the couple chose to cover it with a color tied to something already in the room.

Green in the old hearth became the clue

Once finished, the fireplace takes on a deep green-black appearance. The color is Sherwin-Williams Andiron, selected after the couple cleaned the original hearth and noticed its rich green-brown details.

“As soon as we painted [the bricks], the tiles popped,” Maudie said of the change.

The dark brick now provides a solid backdrop for a hearth that contains far more variation in color and pattern.

White walls push the fireplace forward

Sherwin-Williams Snowbound replaced the beige across the walls, creating a bright field around the dark fireplace.

From the front, the original hearth reads as its own feature rather than an extension of the brick. Terracotta, brown, and green sit between the Andiron fireplace and oak floor, linking the two without matching either one.

Original wood became part of the new palette

Looking from the dining area into the living room shows how much wood remains visible after the renovation. Window trim, built-ins, and flooring bring warm brown tones through both spaces.

A gray sectional, black coffee table, and mustard pillow add new pieces without covering the architectural features. The wide arch between the rooms remains one of the strongest elements in the layout.

The hearth pattern makes more sense up close

Individual pieces in the hearth form repeating geometric shapes rather than a solid tile field. Terracotta polygons surround small groups of muted green squares, with dark grout defining each section.

Those green inserts explain the fireplace color choice. Andiron does not copy the tile shade exactly, but it pulls the same dark green family onto a much larger surface.

The fireplace became the darkest feature in the room

From farther back, the transformation has a simple hierarchy: white textured walls, warm original wood, and one dark fireplace at the center.

The mantel was painted with the brick rather than left as another wood accent. That creates one continuous block of Andiron from the mantel down to the floor.

The alcove kept its original shape

An arched niche beside the fireplace contains narrow wood shelves filled with plants and small objects. Its white interior keeps the alcove connected to the walls, while the refinished shelves pick up the wood elsewhere in the bungalow.

Beside it, the dark fireplace edge creates a hard boundary between the white plaster and painted brick.

Plants bring the green beyond the fireplace

Green appears again through the plants grouped beside the mid-century-style armchair and across the alcove shelves.

The fireplace remains much darker than the foliage, but the repeated green prevents Andiron from feeling isolated from the rest of the living room.

Another view shows how dark Andiron can look

Under different light, the fireplace approaches black. Green becomes easier to detect where daylight reaches the brick and mantel.

That shift is part of what makes the color work with the original hearth. It can act as a near-black anchor from across the room while revealing its green undertone beside the tile and plants.

The before and after centers on one original detail

The comparison brings the project back to the hearth. Before, beige brick competed with the warm tile and beige walls around it. After, dark green separates the fireplace from both the white walls and wood floor.

Maudie and Ronnie did not need a new surround or new hearth to uncover the feature that was already there. Cleaning the original tile revealed the color that would guide the fireplace makeover.

Would you have noticed the green in the original hearth tile, or would you have chosen a different color for the brick?

Image credits go to @r.m.hammer and @eveningcue