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Home Decorating

Fireplace Transformation !!

14 years ago

Hey gang ... I'm new to posting on this forum, but have lurked for YEARS !! We recently had our fireplace/mantle updated to give it a more traditional look, and I thought I'd share it with you. It's amazing what a little bit of MDF, inexpensive molding and crisp white paint can do (not to mention a friend who is am amazing craftsman). We're thrilled with the results !! I look forward to seeing what everyone else does to their humble abodes this year !!

Please stop by when you have a moment!

Take care,

Becca

Here is a link that might be useful: Adventures in Decorating blog

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Comments (12)

zipdee
14 years ago
It looks so rich now, just beautiful. Fantastic transformation, Becca!
yayagal
14 years ago
Spectacular!!!
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Thanks II. The furn is staying. The wall over the mantle is currently a gold color, yes. The whole room used to be that color. Above the mantle is the last section that needs to change. I have that kitchen blue paint I could use. I also have the khaki-ish sidewall color. I could try to darken it a little for the area above the mantle. Thanks, AMy, 1.Side walls are raffia basket, the new color which will remain. 2. Above the mantle is some variation on the old color - boardwalk. It needs to change. The area above the mantle, and possible the mantle itself, is all I want to paint at this time. OPtion 1: sliver basically white or whitish. That sliver looked good painted slightly lighter than the bricks in the before. But now the bricks appear much lighter and more prominent than they did before, and I don't see how I can paint the sliver any lighter than the bricks? Can I? Should I? The bricks are color matched to my kitchen cabs, which are very close to BM Navaho white. The sliver is in a bit of a hole, so maybe whatever I paint in there will look darker? I need the mantle to stand in for some kind of architecture or richness in the room. Am I seeing it wrongly? Influence me. With this option, I could paint the mantle another color but I wouldn't know what. Brown is too much like the wood tone the mantle should really be, and would look like stage makeup. Taupes are too tricky. Blue? Option 2: Sliver painted Sidewall color. I'm thinking of taking the side wall color and trying to darken it just a little and paint the sliver. This might provide a little interest and make that wall recede a tiny bit. Or, maybe the sidewall color will appear a bit darker when it is painted on the sliver because the sliver is in a hole. Option 3: Sliver painted blue.
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caminnc
14 years ago
What a wonderful job you and your friend did on your fireplace. Love your decor as well. Thanks for sharing becinsc(from caminnc). Great minds think alike, haha! Nice blog too.
vampiressrn
14 years ago
That is maaaaawvulus!!! What a fantastic improvement. The original cut-out seems like it would compel you to work with that, but you were smart to just cover it up and it looks great with your molding. Your decor looks wonderful and lucky that you built it deep enough to eventually use a lamp as and accent too. Most mantels are too shallow...wish mine was deeper.
becinsc
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you, thank you, thank you !! We really are pleased with the change, and can't believe we didn't do it sooner. Vampiressrn, you're exactly right about the mantel being shallow before .. *too* shallow, especially when it came to decorating for the holidays ... it was very limiting. Thanks again for everyone's thoughtful comments.
saltnpeppa
14 years ago
Beautiful transformation. I peeked and saw your gorgeous decorations, too. WOW!! You are a busy bee;)

Smiles:)
nhb22
14 years ago
Beautiful! What a great transformation!

We are having to tear out our ventless fireplace to put in a new vented one. I would love to spruce up the new fireplace surround (did something similar in previous home) but the ceilings are not tall enough in the current family room. We'd also have the arches to work around. We do have a wide mantle though, and it's great for decorating.

Previous home

New house
barbie08075
14 years ago
Am I reading this correctly: extension cords in the legs of the mantle-- Or do you mean outlets to plug in lighting?
juddgirl2
14 years ago
Wow - what a beautiful transformation! I never would have thought of covering up the cubby and taking the molding up higher, but it looks great!
redbazel
14 years ago
Your fireplace came out just beautiful! Nice, nice, design, and great execution! Who wouldn't love it?

Red
becinsc
Original Author
14 years ago
Again, thank you !! NHB, I've always loved your fireplace (in both your previous and new homes) ... do you have an overall shot of your current living room ... just curious to see how tall your ceiling is compared to the arches flanking your fireplace.

Barbie ... yes, you read it correctly(!), there is an extension cord that runs inside the leg on the left, with the outlet resting (hiding) behind the red candlesticks on the mantle. From there, he plugged another extension cord into that one and ran it up inside the upper leg, with that outlet hiding under the greenery on the ledge up top. :-)

Thanks again,
Becca
nhb22
14 years ago
The ceilings are 9' but look only 8' because of the room length. I have been trying to talk DH into letting me paint the ceiling(our have it painted :)) a lighter shade of the wall color. This would make the ceiling seem higher.

{{gwi:1375014}}

I also want to repaint the living room ceiling the same shade (to make it look higher) and the dining room dome the same because I think the green (from the walls) is too dark in the dome. Perhaps I can do all that when the fireplace is re-done.

In this photo, you can see my dinging room ceiling, and a smidgen of the living room ceiling in the background (past the foyer.)

Living room ceiling

I am so sorry.... I realized that I have gotten off track from the original posting and practically taken over this thread. I guess your re-do has inspired me. :)

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