Painting fire surround

[True blue]

I am thinking of painting my fire surround as taking it out and replacing it will prove too costly in decoration . What sort of paint would you recommend to cover it as the surface is a shiny dark wood and i thinking of changing the colour to a cream , and do you think it will look ok or a bit naff ?

[jennyp]

There might be some ideas on here http://www.paintquality.com/diy/content/howtop aint.htm

[smudge]

Here are pages & pages of fire surrounds - lots of them painted too:

http://images.google.co.uk/images?svnum=10&hl= en&lr=&q=+fire+surrounds

I've never liked shiny wood, I prefer either matt or waxed.

Both our fire surrounds are waxed wood, but some cream painted ones can look really nice & brighten up a room.

Good luck.