A fireplace redo!

Hello my peeps!! I hope you had a LOVELY Thanksgiving week!

I’m so glad to be back, but the little blogging break was nice. :) I can’t wait to tell you what we were up to last week – but for now, I am SO psyched about the project that’s been going on around here over the past couple of weeks!

For as long as we’ve lived in this house, I’ve had a thorn in my side…that I may have mentioned one or 437 times.

Our family room set up was part of the issue for a very long time – but I addressed that earlier this year with our new sofa and moving the TV. LOVE it still – probably the best changes I’ve made to our home.

But there was that one thing. That corner thing. The one that drove me batty:

I curse the day I chose that corner fireplace! Shakes fists in air!!

I know it doesn’t look that evil. But it was.

Ahhh…all those years ago, I thought oh yes – let’s do a corner fireplace and be all cool and different and uh...ANNOYING.

I’ve addressed it numerous times – first by adding molding to the top. It started out looking like this:

And then I changed it up a bit later by adding a mirror over the mantel. It was great because it gave it the “feel” of a wall.

But there were still so many things that drove me nuts. I added crown to the room this year, and I had to end it by the molding over the fireplace. I hate the weird stop – but I’ve not found a better way to do it. And I realized a few months ago that part of the reason the fireplace looked weird to me was because it was so top heavy – big on top, little on bottom.

And the corner mantel was really a pain in my patoot to decorate. And I’m all about the decorate:

And even though the top was large and in charge, the whole thing felt too small for this space.

I thought about taking in the chunky molding on top, to make it less top heavy – but then I was going to have to redo that and the crown. Nah thanks.

Then I thought about building a wall above the mantel to close it off (many of you have suggested that). But it would have just made the mantel even smaller.

Then I had THE idea…and it was right in front of my face every night for the past eight years.

Why not try to make a full wall like the one in our bedroom:

Nah DUH.

I’m quick.

But then there was another issue – the firebox couldn’t be moved out to meet up with a new wall. I didn’t know how to make it work (I thought it all had to be flush.)

But then, one glorious day, I walked through a model home (one of my favorite things to do!), and found IT!!

It was a corner fireplace, with a wall. But the firebox was inset quite a bit:

It was a good five inches or so. And I knew I could do the same with our fireplace! (With some help.)

Cue the angels singing. (I almost wrote “angels signing” – which would be OK too.)

I called the handymen who did a ton of the work around here when we had the fridge/floor fiasco. I explained what I wanted to do, showed them pics, then showed them our upstairs fireplace and THEY SAID EASY PEASY SQUEEZY!!

Yesssssssssssssssssss.

So a couple weeks ago we started with this:

Vince (Handyman #1) took the mantel off (it was way easier than I thought it would be) and the trim around the front of the fireplace, then started building a wall:

And what a glorious wall it was. I’ve never been so happy.

(They even added studs between the studs right where I would hang the mirror – no anchors needed!)

Then they drywalled and sanded like mad (which resulted in more dust than we had when the floors were sanded – no joke):

Then they started building the mantel. A REAL mantel people!

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!

They couldn’t go real beefy with the surround because I wanted a DEEP mantel and enough space around the fire box to install tile. So in order to make that work, the sides were a bit thinner, but the molding and mantel were chunkaaaay.

To save on costs I finished the redo from there. You’d think it would be quick, but nah. You know me. :)

I found a beautiful mosaic tile at Lowe’s (I found it months ago and knew I’d use it if this project ever happened). The guys brought me their tile saw to use and it ROCKED! It was so easy to use!

I made the cuts for the side pieces:

And used mastic to apply them around the fireplace:

No mixing required – it was SO easy to use!

I just buttered the wall:

There was a bit of a gap between the firebox and the drywall around it when they pulled off the trim. You can see here that they ended up installing some luan that covers that gap and gave me a good surface for the tile.

Then I buttered the back of the tile:

And stuck it on. It does not take much – I used too much at times and it came out between the tiles. Not hard to clean up, and you just learn as you go. I didn’t have to grout because the tiles were so close – whew!

I LOVE how it turned out!

We went away on vacation last week, and I was chomping at the bit to get this finished up! I worked most of today painting. And painting…

Forgive me for these pics – it was pitch black at 5 p.m. and I was busting booty to get this finished today…but the pictures didn’t start till about 7. :)

After three coats on the wall, four coats on the mantel and surround (it still needs at least one more), reinstalling all of the wainscoting next to the fireplace and then some quarter round at the bottom, I was DONE:

What you don’t see here is the nice little large spot where I put painter’s tape on the wall too soon and had a nice loooong patch where the drywall was exposed. And then had to patch and paint all over again. Hence the 7 p.m. pics. ;)

But I’m pretty much done – finally! I put accessories up there for it’s first photo shoot and I was SO excited at how easy it was to make it look decent and how BIG the mantel is and HOW MUCH I LOVE IT!!!:

:)

The guys used one (really, really thick) piece of molding to beef up the mantel and I love it – its exactly what I was hoping for!:

I still have some touching up and caulking to do, but I was tired of messing with it today. :)

We all stood in front of it last week commenting on how much we liked that it’s inset – it makes it look like it’s been their forever, like something you’d see in an old house:

The one thing Mike (handyguy #2) mentioned later was that he wished he had thought about adding lights underneath that I could dim – what a great idea! Wish I had thought of that. ;)

But honestly I don’t think I could be happier!

I was willing to give up some square footage in the family room – I actually wanted to go out a little further. But the guys didn’t want to take it too far out and now I know that was a good call. Overall the wall comes out about a foot more than it did before.

We don’t even notice it in the least though – it feel like it “fits” in the room SO much better! It really feels like it was always like this!

I have all kinds of ideas running through my head for the wall above the mantel – some kind of molding treatment. But I’m really digging the simple, clean look right now – I don’t know if I’ll even add anything:

It’s so surprising to look at the before and after – the before looks SO busy and overwhelming to me. And now it’s bigger and even more of a statement but it feels simpler and easier:

Oh happy day. :)

So there you go…what I’ve been up to the past couple of weeks. Can’t WAIT to decorate this for Christmas! The guys even moved the outlet (behind the candlesticks) so I can still have my twinkling lights up there.

It took a little help from the professionals (building a wall isn’t in my repertoire, but I’m working on it!), but I was able to fix the thorn in my side. I am so thrilled! Do you have something about your house that drives you crazy? Have you thought of a million and one ways to fix it? ;) Actually done it?

 

**You can see how to make that mossy letter here! And no, it’s not upside down. I promise. :)

I can tile?

I pose that title as a question because the answer is questionable. The walls haven't come down yet, so I think I was successful. Maybe, YES, I can tile.

There are a few large projects in our home that I have avoided because of FEAR. Plain, good old, I-am-a-big-huge-sissy fear. One of them is the marble that surrounded our tub. It has bothered me for over a year now, since I added the molding to the walls around the tub here.

The marble is a creamy color and the walls are bright white. For normal people this would not be a big deal, but it made me twitch a bit, cause as you know, I'm not normal. I have been wanting to take off the marble surround and replace it with tile foreva.

So Saturday morning, I thought, what the heck, I'm going to go for it! What's the worst that could happen? Uh, believe me, the "worsts" were running through my head.

Sister helped me take off the marble -- I used razor and a pry bar, being careful not to dent the wall as I took off the marble:

This house was built very well, but we have found the one thing they skimped on -- all the tile in the house was glued down, instead of mortared. Makes an easier job for me, so I'm cool with it. Hubby was working downstairs and I didn't even mention this little project was going to happen -- he didn't know about it until he walked in and saw the mess. There was just a brief flash of complete panic on his lovely face, but God bless this man, it didn't last long. He has faith in me. :)

I didn't take pics of the installation part of this project, because I was working like a crazy mad woman to get it all done before my son woke up from his nap. You basically take the mortar and mix it like the directions say -- water and the mortar, mix it up -- that's it! Make sure to do this outside with a mask on.

The directions say to put the mortar on the surface and the back of the tile, but I did a couple with the backs covered and quickly found it didn't need it -- there was way too much and it was spilling through the tiles.

You know how on HGTV when they mortar, they just slap it on the walls and it goes on like butta? Yeah, it didn't work like that. I would swipe it on and it would pretty much just fall right off. It was fab. Next time I won't put quite as much water in as the instructions call for.

This is how it looked before the grout:

One thing I have learned about tiling is you can't judge it until you have grouted. Grouting just makes all the difference in the world:

To grout, you use the same mixer thing that attached to the drill and water or grout enhancer. I got the enhancer ($5) because it's supposed to help reduce the possibility of mold:

This part was much easier then the mortar:

My back was keeeeeeling me at this point, so I tried to sit for most of this part, but it didn't work out that way for long:

(See the Pepsi and popcorn? Sister was trying to give me energy food.) You'll notice I taped off the area around the tub with paper -- this was a life saver both during the mortar process and the grouting. It made for much easier clean up! The hardest part of this WHOLE process was wiping down the tile after grouting -- it felt like Groundhog's Day -- over and over and over. (And over.)

I still have some paint touch ups to do and some caulking, but for now, it is done:

I wouldn't have done it quite so tall, but some of the drywall tore of as we took off the marble, so I had to go a bit higher than expected:

I love how it ties the creamy of the marble tub, the white of the walls, and the green accent color all together! Yes, I am a happy crazy woman.

And yes, that's beadboard around the tub -- I just glued it right on the marble a while back. LOVE it! Here's the before before, from a couple years ago:

Here it is today. YAY!:

I'm going to do a little accent of this by our sinks to tie it all together, and I'll take pics of that process start to finish -- I won't be so sceered next time. Then, I want to rip out the shower surround and tile that whole thing, then the floors, then, then, then... Now, if I can just get those fixtures on the tub replaced, I'd be in heaven.

If you haven't seen my interview at houzz.com today, go here to check it out! Make sure to comment there for a chance to win the Ballard pear! (See previous post.) Your comments over there are making. my. year. by the way. I am so honored to inspire you. I can't thank you enough for your support.

Uh oh.

This could be a problem...I may have developed a new obsession today. I decided a long time ago I wanted to redo the tile on our master bedroom fireplace. We picked out the tile when we built the house, but it's always bothered me. It had a peachy tone that drove me nuts...

I thought it would be a relatively cheap project. But after looking into it I realized it had the potential of costing hundreds of dollars, even though only about 20 square feet of tile was needed. The tiles I found (I was looking for something unusual) were going to end up at $600 or more.

So I took another trip to trusty Lowes and found just what I wanted. A tumbled stone in small mosiac squares -- it had all the colors in it that I wanted and I found slate tile to go on the hearth that worked perfectly with it. Total cost was $90 for the mosiac tiles and $22 for the slate.

I was going to try to do the project myself but my father-in-law insisted -- he is an expert at it (used to do it for a living) and I was happy to have him do it. They did the work today and I am THRILLED with the result:

Ohhhh my goodness, I am so excited. They will grout it tomorrow and then in a week I can seal it. Sealing makes it look like it's wet and makes all of the colors even deeper and prettier.

Problem is, I'm looking all over the house to find places I can tile now. I have extra scrapes of the mosiac tile and I am dying to use it somewhere! I think our foyer may be an upcoming project now that I've seen the difference tile can make. I think I may be able to do it myself too. This is not good! :)