DIY Fireplace Mantel and Hearth Makeover
If you’ve got a fireplace you’d love to makeover but your budget isn’t as big as your vision, I hope our $150 before and after fireplace makeover makes you feel like you can tackle it! It’s amazing what you can do with paint alone, and add it a little tile and wood and you can work some serious magic. This is the evolution of our fireplace. From ghastly green ceramic kitchen tile and pumpkin orange paint… to neutral hearth tiles, chunky white wood, crown molding and a deep moody over the mantel paint-job. Admittedly we waited far to long, but we finally got there! Take my advice and don’t settle for as long as I did!
OUR MAKEOVER STEPS:
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Painted the glossy orange brick
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Built a larger/deeper mantel
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Added new wood hearth frame, installed new hearth tiles and re-trimmed with baseboard
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Painted the accent wall over the fireplace with chalkboard paint
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Painted the fire box
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Installed crown molding
This is a pretty photo heavy post in order to share the full process. All the steps are linked at the bottom in one place, so you can find them all there if you want to jump ahead.
Below is a photo of what we started with, the day we closed on the house. When I look back at some of these photos I wonder what I was even thinking buying this house!
PAINTING THE WALL
We immediately painted the entire house, and I covered the hunter green mantel surround with fresh white paint. It took many coats, as the paint was a shelac base and kept bleeding into the white, but I was determined!
DEMO OF THE GREEN TILE
After eagerly and (looking back) very prematurely busting out the hunter green tile, I proceeded to cover up the hearth for a few years. Not my smartest move. I don’t know how I stood it like that?
But frankly, there were so many other big projects to tackle that took precedence the time just seemed to speed by. And truthfully, sometimes just picking something is overwhelming. Choices are often hard for me because I like far too many styles, and that makes it hard to commit.
HOW TO SPRAY PAINT BRICK (in the house)
One day I got so sick of the orange-toned, shiny brick that I just spray painted it! I didn’t want brush strokes on our slick brick so spray paint felt like the perfect option. It worked like a charm.
- Clean your brick. A TSP solution works great.
- Tape off mantel area.
- Cover and protect surfaces from overstay.
- Use spray shield (cardboard works great).
- Properly ventilate the area. I opened my front and sun room doors for a cross breeze.
- Coat slowly and evenly, do not rush.
- Build your coverage in multiple coats until you like the coverage.
After that, I decided on some pale aqua paint as an accent.
That lasted about a week.
It was replaced with this richer, deeper aqua.
I liked that much, much better! It’s funny how “lighter” was not the answer. It was practically glowing, the base was just too white and pastel in tone! The deeper aqua lasted over a year, if I recall incorrectly.
EVOLUTION
How To Make A Deeper Mantel
The previous mantel was so shallow, I could hardly put a thing on it! Not good for decorating at all. So we decided to fatten it up! We doubled the size and it’s perfect now.
We used a table saw and a miter saw on this project. As well as a router to create custom trim. Also used were: clamps, nail gun (or nails, hammer, nail set), measuring tape, wood filler for nail holes and paint.
My personal handy (dream come true maker) man!
It was actually sunny that day {shocker!} so we put up some sun protection to work under.
We needed a big board and I knew I would be painting it white so we went with a Melamine product. It was much less expensive than a stain grade wood and we knew it would not warp. It was the perfect choice for this project.
It needed to be trimmed out though so it would have smooth finished edges. Here we are putting the mitered cuts together, and then gluing and clamping into place.
We Jim milled some clear vertical grain Douglas Fir stock pieces into custom trim with this cool tool! A router bit. (because lets face it, they never let you use the tools if they are around! At least my husband and dad don’t.)
Whenever we go anywhere with a tool department, I am happy to let my hubby buy whatever tools he wants. In fact, I encourage it!
More tools = More awesome projects! (and they say blondes are dumb) wink wink.
The new hearth piece was installed and attached right on top of the old shallow one. We glued in place and clamped it down to dry.
This is what was covered up under the hunter green tiles.
A new hearth frame was built and some chunky, fat trim was installed.
Next the boys did the lined the cavity for the cement to be added in to fill the void and prepare for the tiles to be laid on top.
At this point, we still thought we were going to use the marble. You can read about the marble I bought for the hearth makeover here. You can see some sitting below with all the tools, etc…
We were so excited to have a gorgeous marble hearth! Alas, when we opened the marble up, we discovered we had two completely different lots.
TIP (and note to self): check lot numbers when buying multiples to ensure the color, pattern, etc… matches.
- We loved one — stunning white & grey
- The other not so much — tan and brown. Yuck
That whole story would practically be another whole post so I’ll fast forward to what we ended up with.
Basically I bought what was in stock because Jim was in the zone to get this project done! So it was neutral, in-stock, and we took it home and it was installed the same weekend! Austin helped Jim with the dry fitting stage by running all the cuts out to him, bringing them back in, and putting them where they belonged to be laid.
DRY FIT AND WAITING FOR GROUT
INSTALLED AND GROUTED
After the boys got the new hearth tile installed, it was my job to prime clean/prep, prime all the raw wood and paint.
If you have any questions about how we did anything in particular that I was not clear on, just ask. We will be happy to answer. Thanks a bunch for checking out how we did our DIY fireplace makeover.
I hope it makes you feel like there is hope for yours! xo, Shannon
Chalkboard Painted Fireplace Wall [read here]
How To Paint A Fireplace Firebox [read here]
Spring Mantel [read here]
How We Added Crown Molding [read here]
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This is awesome Shannon, so pretty. Doesn’t even look like the same fireplace!!!
XO
Kristin
WoW Shannon…what a transformation indeed! They say good things comes to those who wait and boy did it ever come to you(after all that hard work). Love it, Love it, Love it! Now just think…Christmas is right around the corner but I know you’ll have it decorated for Fall and Thanksgiving first. Have fun with it!
LOVE it Foxy Mama!! You did good!
You did a great job. It looks fantastic. I love the whole thing. If you get tired of it you can always paint the brick hunter green..which, of course, means you would have the paint the turquoise wall above it a cranberry color- just sayin’…..xo Diana
Shannon, this is so beautiful! What a wonderful transformation. I have been considering painting my fireplace…white of course! This may give me the courage! Thanks for sharing this. 🙂
http://www.the-finishing-touches.net
Love it!
Great makeover of your fireplace, Shannon! It definitely looks better bulked up a bit. A true focal point of the room now.
Y’all did a fabulous job bringing that up to date. We are DIYers, too and my husband built our mantel when we built the house. I had him make it deeper a couple of years ago because it was too skinny for me to put much of anything on it. Good thing we have husbands who can build things. Yours looks great.
it looks beautiful! i love the color, as you know, love the crisp painted brick, and love the staging!
It looks terrific, Lilo! Too bad about the marble. I know how much you were looking forward to using it. 🙁 But, I love the tile! It all looks fantastic!!!!! Jim and Austin do GREAT work! 🙂
So you tell me I don’t have to comment on all your post and then you put up THIS ONE!!??? LOL! That looks fantastic! Its so perfect. I know it took a while, but oh man was it worth it. You are gonna have so much fun decorating it for the seasons!
I love it!
Magnificent job young lady…(and you cute little handyman too)
Love ya girl
Hugs,
Karin
http://www.artisbeauty.net
Wow what a transformation! It’s absolutely gorgeous! I love the color and the decor you added looks wonderful. I’m looking to add a fatter mantle to mine also so you have definitely inspired me.
It looks wonderful Shannon. I love the colour of the wall too.
WOW – what a difference!! Your new fireplace is GOR.GEOUS!!
Love your fireplace makeover. The wall color is so pretty. The fireplace itself looks amazing…especially when you look at the before. No offense, but that before was really bad, which must make the after feel all the more awesome. I really like how that clock looks inside that frame. Great job!