The mantel surround had a dark oak stain and although it did not look bad, it clashed with our current wood furniture, so I decided to re- paint it.
Here is the before:
Here is the After:
This project required one coat of primer and two coats of paint. I sanded it gently, just to dull it a bit, then I gave it a coat of Multi-Purpose Oil Based Primer. I used this Sherwin William low odor formula since we have asthma at my home and strong paint odor is a trigger. So this paint worked out pretty well, no odor and fabulous coating and no asthma attacks, whew!
The next day I gave the mantel two coats of paint, "Swiss Coffee" by Benjamin Moore semi- gloss and I painted the wall a "Putnam Ivory" to make it stand out a bit.
I'm happy with the new look, to finish it off I would love to change the white tile, but that's a different project. Thank you for looking.