I absolutely love the new look of our fireplace; it came out so cute! So when we moved here, the mood was warm, bland, and Indian red EVERYWHERE, just blah, blah and blah… I get so excited when change is put into place. The fireplace was, originally, made of 12 X 12 tiles and had a mantel made of stucco; it screamed out dirt clay and Dessert. I was not impressed with it aesthetically, although it had a ton of potential. Naturally, I would browse and pin, pin…… and PIN like crazy in search of the perfect fireplace that my husband and I could handle doing on our own. After getting a good idea of how to accomplish the desired look I had in mind, I had my husband, Ryan, bust out the existing tiles. We have a rotary hammer, without one of these, busting out tiles can be more than a lot of work. You want to get just about every little pebble of tile, thin set or any residue that’s left behind up and off the surface where you will be laying your new tile. If you fail to this, it will cause your new surface to be uneven. Perfect, the hard and not so fun part is out of the way, now time to shop. I went to a couple stone and tile stores but had no luck with what I had in mind. I also had no luck with Home Depot……BUT, Lowe’s was a win. Lowe’s had several shapes and stones in the color I wanted.

I purchased several different styles and shapes of textiles and played around with them at home to see what looked better than others. I already had this vision of white, clean, and bright, so of course, all of the textiles that I bought were white, clean, and bright! I really liked the arabesque and felt that it was the most prettiest, but for some reason, as much as I loved it, I felt that I was trying to force something that just wasn’t going to fulfill what I had in mind. If I remember correctly, the colors were off on the smaller sized ones that I wanted-they had a yellowish tint to them, and the size of the color I wanted were just way to big for my taste. The honeycomb style was a egh, I couldn’t get passed how much it just reminded me of a beehive…..so negative on that one as well. After starting on this project and being super pumped to jump all in, I started getting a bit sad thinking I wasn’t going to find the perfect, “me,” in stone for our fireplace. Still in search, I tried mini rectangles up against the fireplace and laid a replica of those, but larger, on the floor. It didn’t seem like something I couldn’t live with, but then I thought I was just settling at this point. The 12 X 12 sheet of mini rectangles up against the fireplace wall and the larger ones that laid on the floor stayed there for about three days. I left them there so I could walk pass them every so often and take in how I felt about them each time I passed them. I just didn’t feel the connection. Who would have knew this would be so hard?!?!?!

Another trip to Lowe’s I make. Initially, they’re was a pattern that I questioned when I first visited this wall of textiles, but I just could’t see them on my fireplace. At this point, what did I have to lose? I told myself, “You questioned them for reason, give them a chance.” So I took them home and stuck them up against the wall, at this point I already made up my mind on what I wanted on the ground in front of the fireplace, after placing them on the wall next to the ones I had laying on the floor it was a definite WIN!! YAYEE!!!! It’s so funny, because this same scenario happened when I went shopping for my wedding dress, a story for later. Anyways….Now that I finally made up my mind on what I wanted my fireplace to be made of, it was time to further involve the hubby. He busted out the tile saw and we got to work. Prior to cutting, measuring and laying out the tiles exactly how and where you want them is a must, so that was our first move before sawing away at them. We also had to make sure that the foundation was as smooth and even as possible before attaching them to their new home. With the boring but important steps out of the way, we made our cuts and started laying our tiles in place. We glued our pieces down with premixed thin set and after drying we later filled in all of the creases and crevices with premixed grout. Grout comes in various colors, pick a color that best fits your look. Also, you don’t have to purchase premixed thin set or grout, they’re a little more expensive. If you purchase the mix it yourselves, which isn’t hard to do, you can save a little bit of money. For time and my patience’ sake, we forked out a couple extra bucks for the premixed stuff. Now that everything is laid and not going anywhere, we glued down our molding to floor, touched up paint where needed, and lastly, caulked where needed.

Prior to starting on the the tile part of the fireplace, months before, I had refaced my three tier mantel; take note that I was 5-6 months pregnant while tackling the mantle, it was quite easy. I purchased boards that perfectly fit the width of each layer of my mantel and with a nail gun, I nailed them into the existing mantel. For the top layer of my mantel, I used a decorative trim after installing the slim, smooth layers of wood per tier. To get the corners to meet at each end of the mantel, I used a miter saw and made my cuts at 90 degrees, to do this, I placed my saw at 45. After having my pieces nailed in, I painted and caulked where it was needed; keep in mind that most caulk is not sandable, so try to not make a mess of this stuff and wipe off any excess prior to it drying. My last and final step was to paint the black metal frame that hugged the fireplace glass; I put a layer of Flat Black, Rust-Oleum protective enamel, oil based over the existing black; this made it really pop and stand out by making it look fresh and new. I purchased this at Home Depot in the spray paint aisle in the paint department. I love this stuff because it doesn’t chip like most paints that I have used in the past. I use it on my door knobs and metal trims around the house as well. Take note though, this paint is very hard to wash off of your paint brush, so maybe use a inexpensive one to toss out afterwards. I liked how the black contrasted with my white but you can paint yours whatever color you like. With my mantel already in place, and now that my stone is in, my fireplace is as beautiful as ever. Hope you enjoyed and that I was a bit of help. If this is something that you’re interested in doing yourself, good luck on your fireplace remodel and most of all, have fun with it !