fireplace makeover {part two}

Last time we left off with the fireplace makeover progress looking like this:

Cedar shingles along the top portion of the fireplace, a new chunkier mantle, decisions to be made for the fireplace surround.

What probably would have looked best is something really simple and flat to balance out the texture up top, something like concrete, which would have looked really modern and sleek. But that’s not what we chose.

Instead, we went with more neutral texture in the form of stone.

Again, we did the work ourselves {actually Ryan and two of our very wonderful friends} and it was surprisingly DIYable.

We bought our manufactured stone product and all of the supplies at a local stone supplier.

There were many different colors and textures to choose from, but we went with a manufactured stone veneer called Country Ledgestone in Echo Ridge by Boral.

To prep the fireplace surround, first Ryan installed cement board, then stapled on a special wire mesh for the stone veneer. He then covered the wire with a thin coat of mortar, let it dry and then started placing stones using more mortar as glue.

The stones came with corner pieces and lots of varying sizes of straight pieces. Putting the pieces together was like one gigantic puzzle. Lots of picking and choosing through the stones, breaking them into the right sizes and trying to get a good mix of sizes, colors and seam placement.

Didn’t they do a fabulous job! We were so excited with how it all came together.

Next came my part: painting. I repainted the lower portion of the living room walls a lighter gray/white called wind’s breath {behr paint from home depot}. We loved the dark slate color that has been there for a few years, but it was time to lighten up.  The mantle and bookshelves received several coats of a custom-matched oil-based white.

And this is where the fireplace has stayed for the past six months. 90% done. The shingles were great in their natural state, but with the gray stone, they appeared especially orangy/brown. There is so much texture and something about it just wasn’t sitting well with me. We talked about a few different options for the shingles and what we wanted was for them to look like the naturally weathered gray shingles we love.  So I grabbed some sample pots of stain and tested them on a few spare shingles to see what would look best.

All three were fine, but {of course} Ryan and I had different favorites and our friends were all pretty mixed in their votes, too.

The one of the left was out, the dark was too dark, the light too opaque, but then Ryan had the genius idea to mix the two together and see what happened.

Thankfully, we were both sold.

So this past weekend, I climbed up very high on a ladder and stained those shingles.

{via my instagram}

It was stinky, it took forever, I messed up once and had to go to the hardware store twice mid-project, but it is now DONE!

Come back friday for our fireplace reveal with a tour of the current living room arrangement. I’m so so happy with how it has turned out.