We Now Have A Fireplace

Okay, I must confess, it's not real, but it looks about as real as you can get without putting a hole in the wall. It took us awhile to get here, Dave grouted it earlier (he's better at that stuff than I am).  All we have to do now is wait until that dries, put the hearth back in place, it wasn't secured in place yet, put the tile on it and grout it. After that, all we need to do is put the picture of a fire in a fireplace that I bought on line and the screen we bought (we were lucky and found that at Menards on sale) back in place, oh and the pups' stockings that Dave had to take down.

Let me tell you about how this all came about. Actually I don't know who came up with the idea, I think it was Dave, but it all started with us coming across a mantle at the ReStore. I don't have to tell you how much I love that place. Anyway, we came across the mantle, I had been wanting one for I don't know how long, but that day they had a really nice on for a decent price, so we bought it. I was a really happy camper that day and even happier when we put it up.

I was okay with it being like that for awhile but then we both felt that something was missing, it looked too plain just being there on the wall, so Dave came up with the idea of a faux fireplace, so I started doing some research. Unfortunately the ones I was coming across on line just didn't look real enough, unless they were an actual hole in the wall, but we couldn't do that here because it was a load bearing wall and an electrical outlet was kind of in the way, so we came up with this idea.

First we found tile that we liked. Some we bought at Menards, the funny thing is that we usually don't shop there because Lowes is closer. Also, Dave always liked Mexican tiles so I found some beautiful ones on EBay for not a lot of money, so I bought them. I bought two sizes, four inch and two inch. The two inch ones were pretty irregular in size, but we were able to work with them. A few, Dave had to sand down so that they would fit inside diamond shape cutouts in some of the tiles bought at Menards. The bigger ones fit fine in the bigger similar ones we bought. I went back to EBay and bought some more of both sizes which turned out to be a really good thing.

Since our walls are painted paneling, we bought a half sheet of 1/4 inch birch plywood and Dave fitted it to slide behind the mantle since there was a slight space. Next came the figuring out a pattern that would look good for the surround. That was my job. This was the original one I came up with.

As you can see by the picture below, it changed a little. I ended up lining the inside of the surround and putting a single line of the small tiles along the bottom of it just above where the hearth would go. This what it looked like when it was all in place. Unfortunately I goofed and the left side is slightly off from the right. I also decorated it for the holidays. One of the main reasons I've always wanted a fireplace.

You can get a really good idea of what the finished product will look like in this picture. The tiles hadn't been grouted yet.

Here's what it looks like when it's darker in that part of the livingroom.

I'm really happy with the way it's turning out. It took awhile, but I think the wait was worth it. The fire picture will be covered in the summer with a piece of black backing board. I found one at of all places, Walmart that fits perfectly over the picture and will look like the inside is black, of course. ☺ Oh and the outlet, it's covered with a removable tile. ☺