Modernizing a Red Brick Fireplace

I love having a fireplace, but the red brick color in our living room has a really old look & feel that just sucks the life out of the room. Besides that, it couldn't look worse against the new color of our walls. We're trying an experiment to modernize this red brick fireplace with a new paint job.

Step 1: Wipe down the fireplace with a web sponge to remove dust and cobwebs.

Step 2: Paint all of the mortar and sides of the brick white. The surface is porous, so this will require at least 2 coats:

Step 3: Paint the surface of each brick. We chose a Benjamin Moore semi-gloss paint because we want the fireplace to function as an accent piece in the living room. I recommend using the 1" Wooster paintbrush because it's small enough to get into the crevices of the brick but high enough quality that the bristles don't go astray.

We aren't quite there yet, but I'm loving the way this is turning out:

Updated post 10/16/13:

Here is the finished product:

updated red brick fireplace