If it was up to me, the fireplace would get painted. Unfortunately (or fortunately), Sandra's been telling me otherwise. I got some Oxyclean and mixed a whole lot with a little bit of water. This made a pasty Oxyclean mixture that I smeared onto the front of the bricks. The recommendation on the Oxyclean container is to let it sit for a few hours before rinsing, so we went to Home Depot to get a brush and a spray bottle to clean it off. I picked up a grill cleaning brush with brass bristles to scrub the Oxyclean mixture off. It took about 45 minutes to wet down and apply, two hours to sit, and about 3 hours to scrub clean. I wanted to make sure all the chemicals were off the brick.
Here are the before, during, and after photos.
BEFORE:
DURING:
AFTER:
