Fireplace Facelift

Last year between Thanksgiving and Christmas my sweetheart and I gave our living room fireplace a complete facelift. We had planned this for a long time, saved pictures from magazines, catalogs and brochures and dreamed of the day our old, out-dated fireplace would be transformed. The change was incredible and we love it! No regrets.

This is what the fireplace looked like before the re-do. The mantel was very narrow and hard to decorate. See the one nearly white brick? That was my trial-run with Kilz. My sweetheart couldn't believe I did that before we started the project! Just checking. This was the 'old' built-in bookcase beside the fireplace.During the process it looked like this.And then this.Finally, after many long hours of cutting, nailing, sanding, priming and painting there was no way to miss the beauty of the finished project.Over the top - better than we dreamed possible. . .Every detail just right. . .Every little piece a labor of love - a team project with the goal in mind. . .In time to decorate for the holidays.We didn't tell our kids what we were doing. They only knew that we were working on a project in the house. Imagine their amazement when they arrived Christmas morning.

I love the fireplace, the mantel and the bookcase now and I don't want to hide any part of it. Last year I kept the decorations very simple so I could enjoy every little detail. This year I will make a few changes and add something new (perhaps) but I won't do anything to hide the charm we worked so hard to accomplish.