Fireplace Remodel

When we moved into our new house at the end of October of last year, one of the first projects on our list was to give to do a fireplace remodel. Before we had even moved in I had drawn designs and had it all planned out as it was one of the big things about the house that I didn’t like. 

This is what it looked like the day we moved in.There were things that I loved about the mantle. I knew it had great potential, I loved the Austin stone, the brick, the size and the fact that it had a gas starter. I didn’t love the color of the mantle or the book cases beside it. Also, the previous owner had the Fruits of the Spirit painted on tiles and inset into the the fireplace wall. Now, I love the Fruits of the Spirit as much as the next girl, just not on my fireplace. Also, there was this weird row of Austin stone that stuck out above the the FOS tiles that made it feel like a second mantle. Definitely time for a remodel.

We decided that before we did anything in the house that we would replace all of the flooring. This house is 17 years old and had all of the original carpet and tile. While I am so glad that we did this, it put back our projects a few weeks. Now we were into November and only had a couple of weeks to get unpacked and to get a few projects done before all of the holiday rush began. It was my turn to host Pokeeno, also my turn to host my families Thanksgiving and to host The Queen’s annual Christmas party. The pressure was on!

I give The Hubs all of the credit for this project!I gave him a picture of what I wanted and he went to town. While I was unpacking, he was demolishing the fireplace and rebuilding it! I came home one afternoon to find a huge hole in the wall where the weird Austin stones protruded.(See red arrow.) Yikes! Once he had done that, he framed the wall above the fireplace in order to wrap the wall in wood. ( blue arrow)

Once the framing was complete, The Hubs nailed sheets of wood to the frames.Then added a raised panel design to the facade. After adding the raised panels, he gave the entire wood wall 3 coats of white paint. At this point, we had planned to go ahead and paint the mantle and the bookshelves beside the fireplace but ran out of time!

This is what the fireplace looked like 3 days before Thanksgiving. Didn’t The Hubs do a fantastic job? I love it! We decided to hold off on painting the shelving until after the holidays!

Fast forward to today. After I took down all of the Christmas decor, I slapped this picture and artichoke pottery up on the mantle until I could find something I loved.

On a recent trip to Hobby Lobby I found this sweet white mirror. Honestly, I wasn’t sure about putting a white mirror on a white mantle, but at 50% off it was worth giving it a try. If I didn’t like it I could always return it or put it in my entry. Once I got it up in place, I knew it was meant to be!

I added a few accessories and I have to say that I love it. I really, really love it. Now I have got to get busy painting those shelves besides the fireplace! Along with painting the walls, making curtains, painting the TV stand…The list is long my friends!

Until next time….