Fireplace Redo

Well, I've been kind of busy lately and haven't really tackled any noteworthy changes to the house. Just keeping it clean enough to not be condemned is kind of a victory right now.

Soooooo....I decided to do a blast from the past. Part of what Mr. 31 does is remodel rundown homes. Our first house that we bought together was a flat (one apartment upstairs, one down). It was a mess. It looked and smelled BAD. We bought it at an auction and, when we went back inside to sign the papers after the bidding, we were like "What did we do?!?"

But, after four months of hard work (we were doing it after working 8 hour days at our other jobs), it looked pretty good if I must say so myself.

The project from the flat that I'm going to highlight today is the fireplace from the upstairs apartment. It was U-G-L-Y. The bottom part had been plastered with a texture and the upper part was turquoise painted plaster (and not a good turquoise) and the plaster was crumbling terribly.

You can also note the lovely gas fireplace insert, the nasty carpet, and the 80s-riffic ceiling fan.

So, after scraping and pulling out the worst of the plaster (and some serious disinfecting), I got my behind up on a step ladder with some joint compound and a large putty knife. I used the putty knife to layer a texture onto the top of the fireplace, trying to copy the texture on the bottom as closely as possible.

Then I painted the mantel with the white we were using for the trim, except for a small inset that ran the length of the front of the mantel, which I painted the same color as the walls (the color is called Sabrina, but I don't remember what brand of paint, so that information probably isn't helpful).

It was really simple and it made a big difference! Here's the fireplace afterwards:


Also gone is the retro (in a bad way) ceiling fan, nasty carpet, and ugly insert. You also might notice the woodwork between rooms was stripped and stained. My mother-in-law did that. It became a personal battle between her and that woodwork and the rest of us stayed out of the way. It turned out gorgeous though!

So, that's my blast from the past. I'll probably share more of these from time to time. We've had to tackle some pretty crazy projects along the way!

Check out the link parties that I'm joining up with!