We’re back at it and the big guy was in town this weekend cracking the whip. OK — there wasn’t any whip, but we were busy working away at the house fixing the living room sliding door, building a mantel, cleaning up pine needles and sprucing up my 1948 Firestone Super-cruiser (more on that one later).
Here’s the evolution of our fireplace. Back in 2010 before we moved in it looked a little like this. You can see why changes needed to be made and not just to the fireplace.
Then we got busy painting and decorating. Can you believe how much of a difference a little paint makes? We used Kelly-Moore Paints Travertine Trail on the wall and Swiss Coffee on the mantel.
We still didn’t care for the red brick so we painted it and removed the white mantel, summer 2011 . Shortly after our awesome Jotul C 550 wood-burning stove was installed, fall 2011. It kept us warm all winter long!
Fast forward to June 2012… a new mantel was added! However, it wasn’t always a mantel. We found the piece of wood in our neighbors yard, basking in the sun! We scored this weathered 8 ft (about) beam for free! A new piece of lumber would have cost us roughly $47 plus the time and materials to rough it up giving it that ‘rustic’ or ‘worn’ feel we wanted. Stop by Thursday for installation details, until then here she is.
She still needs a coat or two of tough oil for a nice seal plus we still have the hearth and surround to do. We’re thinking a slate hearth and a stone dry stack or mosaic glass tile/stone for the surround. Eventually we’ll replace the carpet with hardwood floors.
What should we do with the hearth & surround? Any color suggestions?
xo, Tiara
The transformation of the fire place is amazing! I love seeing details change and improve a room significantly. It look great! xoxo A-
Thanks for stopping by! I agree, it's amazing how small changes can make the biggest impact.