Fireplace: The Reveal

I can proudly say, the day before Thanksgiving our fireplace is DONE! It is getting harder to work around my active, needy kids, but if I can do it, anyone can.

Before we moved in:

Before the Mantel, with my "wanna-be-a-real-fireplace-mantel" paint remedy:


During remodeling:

and.... drum roll Please...... dum dum da da!!!

AFTER
a coat of primer and 3 coats of paint later,

because I am a sucker for Before and Afters.....

We haven't put the TV back yet, part of me doesn't even want to. I am not a fan of Tv's on top of mantels (it is like worshipping the tv... nerdy!), but that is where it is all wired so it will eventually be there again. I have to say the mantel completely changes our whole family and kitchen area. It is just STUNNING! (confession: I have been sitting, staring at it for the past couple days with a big FAT smile on my face).

Costs:

$70- router & Bit

$55- MDF

$100- Slate & Supplies

$30- Pine

$40- Base & Crown molding

$33- molding & accents

$52- Paint

$20- misc (Spackle, caulk etc)

$400 total.

Pretty good compared to the $2,000-4,000 estimate we got before :)

Linking to:

Thrifty Decor Chick's Before & After Party

Fireplace: Part Two

If you missed Part One, click HERE

After we got the 3 large pieces of MDF on there it was time to roll and tackle those amazing details that would bring it all together.

Tools:
Circular Saw
Miter Saw
Router and Bit (optional: see below)
Nail Gun

We put Crown Molding at the top

Here's a shot looking up at it. The piece that is hanging over is the quarter round.

To connect the top MDF piece to the crown molding (in a good lookin way) my husband used a quarter round. After, he said instead of the quarter round he could have just rounded the MDF with the router we have. But it works out the same.

Working with a corner fireplace is twice as hard. Here is how the molding and MDF meet the wall.

Dramatic Molding was added to the base

My husband cut a little "lip" in the bottom of the base to fit nicely around the tile.

I absolutely LOVED how Karla designed the MDF pieces to accent around the sides. To do this you will need a Router. I also learned (from my husband) that there are a million "bits" you can pick from. We stuck with a rounded edge just because it is more durable and with twin boys around, we always go the safe route.

TIP: If you don't have a router and don't want to buy one (we got ours on craigslist) just use molding pieces to make squares (like wainscoting). You will have a really great look without having to mess with another tool!

I couldn't just stop at the mantel. I had to extend my fireplace to the dramatic 9' ceilings we have!
I decided to use 1x4 Pine, instead of molding, to line the wall and along the ceilings. I just LOVE that look more and it creates clean lines while adding some traditional "craftsman" style. I also added the little boxes of molding in the middle, bringing a little of our wainscoting in the office into the front room.

This is a shot of the top corner, the ceiling. We used some molding pieces inside of the Pine.

This is at the bottom corner

TIP: My husband didn't put these mesh into the corner. He took them out a little more so they would meet up the same and create their own "corner"

After all that hard work and accurate measuring me and my husband created a stunning look!

But wait.... there is always that darn finish work!

We caulked all around the MDF cut-outs, around the Pine, around the crown molding, around the baseboards and even where the MDF meets the tile. Then we sanded and spackled every nail hole at least a couple times (if not 3-4 times).

TIP

TIP: My husband read online that when dealing with freshly cut MDF you will want to "seal" the edges so that it won't suck up the paint. We sealed all the edges of our MDF accent cut-outs.
Recipe: 4 parts wood glue to 1 part water to make a soupy paint.

Now we are ready to paint :)

Fireplace: Part One

Last year we got an estimate from someone to make us a fireplace mantel- $2000-4000!!!! Are you kidding? My need for a pretty fireplace was crushed, we would NEVER be able to afford that.
Then I stumbled across Karla's fireplace on It's the little things that make a house a home. I showed the picture to my husband and he said "ya, we can do that." Sigh. I was going to have my pretty fireplace just in time for Christmas for a fraction of fraction of the cost :) YIPEE!!!

Design:
I get inspiration and ideas by looking at as many pictures as I can and gather little pieces from this and that and make my own creation. I call it my design recipe. I don't copy anything exactly. I take an ingredient from here, one from there, throw it in my design pot and it comes out more personable and, well, more ME! (but if you wanna copy my designs exactly, of course you can, that is why I am doing this blog. Just give me some credit.. hehe).

This is the corner fireplace before we moved in. Boring, bla, small and so NOT attractive. Hundreds of starter homes and apartments have this same fireplace. I am pretty sure half of you do.

I had to paint it while I was waiting for my Mantel. I chose chocolate brown... don't ask me why. I have started to hate it towards the end.... and I hate those nasty tiles.

SLATE $100 (including grout and all materials)

I decided on slate. It could go with any paint color (because I change them often), it is a natural stone, and it is a pretty "loved by all" tile for when we want to sell our house.

TIP: When you are doing major renovations, like tile, think about resell. If you are wanting to raise your home value stay neutral, don't get too crazy. If you are planning on staying in your home forever, get what your heart desires (I woulda gone with glass tiles if we were staying here forever, but I still love the slate).

For a step by step guide on how to Tile click HERE

• We used pennies as spacers (hey, we didn't want to spend an extra $5 on spacers)
• We also didn't have to make any cuts. The bottom slate fit right where the other previous tile was laid and the little tiles came in sheets so we cut them with a razor blade.
• This was the FIRST time my husband had ever done tile (he has seen it laid a million times on his construction sites). He did an AMAZING job so don't be intimidated
• I chose Gray for the grout color.
  

TIP: The Lowe's guy told me to seal our tile before and after we grouted. You especially want to seal natural stone so the grout doesn't get caught in all the grooves. Plus, it makes it a nice deep color, and if something makes it prettier, I'll take it!
Didn't it turn out pretty?

Now for the fun part.

MDF $55

• My husband cut 4 pieces to cover the front and top.
• One for the top (this was a triangle piece to fit in the corner)
• 3 for the front (rectangles)

Well, ok, I lied. The fun part is all the details (molding & accent pieces)... those are for Part Two . Guess your just gonna have to stick around for a couple more days :)

A Hole in the Wall was NOT the plan!

Before you start on any project you envision it going as smoothly as the finished product looks. But lets be totally honest, with every home improvement project there are always stumbling blocks and "OH CRAP" moments!

We started our fireplace, and I have to say with how it looks right now I am getting really excited (and it is NOT pretty right now).

I headed to Lowes and got everything on our list for installing the Slate, our first stage of the fireplace. I feel like the cashiers should be required to say as they hand you your receipt, "see you in a couple hours!" because that is usually the case.

Our "OH CRAP" moment:
As my husband was pulling, banging, tugging and pounding the icky "cheapo" ceramic tile off (it was not easy), the wall came right off with it. I can proudly say that no swear words were shouted and he stayed pretty calm (at least calm on the outside). I didn't worry much because I always know my husband finds a solution. And he did indeed!

He cut a square above the hole and traded it. We needed a little backbone behind the tile, but don't need anything behind our "soon to be pretty" mantle. Problem solved and no extra trip to Lowes. GENIUS!

Lesson learned: If you ever have an "oh CRAP" moment just email my husband, he will find a way around it pretty fast (and without an extra visit to Lowes).

COMING UP- I plan to update you with tutorials as we tackle this fireplace. Hopefully we can get this thing done in the next couple weeks.