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]
And our LATEST Update!
A DIY SHIPLAP WALL OVER THE FIREPLACE [click here]
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You did a fantastic job with this update. Love it!!
Cynthia
WOW Shannon!!! It looks so great, I bet you absolutely LOVE it. And way to go Jim … might be time for a new tool, or two. 🙂
I can see you playing around with that decor pretty regularly now. Oh what fun you’ll have. 🙂
Wow! Shannon…..it looks amazing! Thanks so much for sharing the journey. You are blessed to have such an amazing support team!
blessings,
karianne
Shannon,
What a HUGE difference! The whole fireplace looks stunning now. Love the white and aqua. That would be a fun mantle to decorate for the up-coming holidays.
Oh Shan, it’s gorgeous! Gorgeous, I tell ya! Well worth the wait.
Might I add, I love that clock!
Just beautiful! I love the transformation!
Holy ridiculous, it’s gorgeous! I need Mr. Foxy to come over and fix up my hearth! I can’t wait to see all of the different ways you decorate it!
Awesome mantel makeover.
Love the transformation! (It’s fun to see your pics of the progression!)
Pretty color 🙂
Susan
Thank you my dear for joining the party!~ AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME…I can’t tell you enough.
This looks amazing. I love the light look and love the color you chose. I wish I had a fire place, if just so i could hang my Christmas stockings on them. Oh well, maybe in my next house. Love your work.
Love it! It was so worth all the work you and hubby did!
Ok now that I picked my jaw up off the ground, I can speak! WOW Jim…you ROCK sir indeed! Shannon this makes a HUGE difference. Just think of all the fun you are going to have decorating this puppy for the Holidays!~ Nice job. Hey, I’m home now, yay, I have a lot of catching up to do. You were my first stop!~
It looks beautiful, Shannon. I’ve been house hunting and am surprised at how minimal a fireplace surround can be. If one is going to have a mantel, I’d want it a good size like yours.
-Karen
Such a beautiful transformation!!