I changed my fireplace color because my bricks were a very dark purple-grey undertone brown. They sucked the life out of the room. I had that same color bricks in my last house and I fought them for years by changing the decor around them before I finally reluctantly gave up and painted the bricks white. It was just the lift the entire room needed and I was very happy with the results. The folks who bought my house love it too.

In this house with the same color bricks I didn't hesitate-- I painted them white. (Sorry to those of you who cringe at that -- I already knew I couldn't live with it the way it was.) What I ended up with was not a big ugly dark fireplace but a big ugly glaring white one. So I faux painted it back to brick in a better color that enhanced, rather than fought with my decor.

This pic shows the dark original brick, plus the white paint, plus the brick I already painted back to look like brick:

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This shows the final stages of turning it back to brick:

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This shows the completed job (sorry about the dirty mirror and the junk on the hearth -- I had just finished the job). I'd get a better shot right now but my camera battery is charging:

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The advantages of a glaze are that you have longer working time before it dries, and you get more transparent color. I just used acrylics with no glaze (water was sufficient glazing medium), and any undesirable results were easy to blend out, lighten or darken as I went. If I had it to do over again I'd just skip the painting, which was the most time-intensive part anyway, and simply use the paint (water based only) right on the brick being careful to avoid painting the grout by using a rather stiff sponge. It's not too hard to avoid the grout IF your grout is pretty well recessed. But I'm not sorry I painted it as it brightened up the grout, and therefore the whole room, and it was easier to touch up the grout than to scrub it clean if I got color on it. If ever it gets marred (and I don't see why it would), it will be easy to touch it back up.

So my advice is don't be afraid. If you hate your brick, change it. Stay to water-based paints and if you goof it's easy to scrub it off before it dries. Stand back frequently to assess your work as you go, and err to the lighter/lesser change at first... you can darken or lighten individual bricks by simply applying more paint or taking some off, and keep a few paper towels handy. There really are many possibilities with brick and if you goof something up there is always recourse. And if someone has a painted fireplace and wishes it looked like original brick again, you can change that, or paint the entire thing any color you like.

I found a picture of the fireplace as it was before I bought the house so you can see the difference.

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I know you posted this last year, but I just found it now and WOW!!!!! You may have just saved me a few hundred dollars in refinishing costs! Can you PLEASE tell me what kinds of colours and how many you used to get this natural layered look? I want to do this to my fireplace! It is already painted white so I just need to know what kinds of browns or any other colours you used on top. Thanks!