Happy Monday, friends! I hope y’all had a wonderful Easter weekend! My husband and I continued to work a bit on our fireplace renovation over the weekend and I’m happy to report we are ALMOST there! Come check out our progress!
Ok, just for reference, here is where we started in January. (Yes, January, some DIY projects take a LONG time!) We had this fireplace structure that was here when we bought the house. It’s very unusual and cool, but I longed for a fireplace mantle (for stockings at Christmas) and a place where we could hang artwork or a mirror without it sticking out at the bottom, due to the slope of the structure. So, after 3 years of begging and badgering my husband, he finally agreed to take this thing down and find a proper mantle and surround. (To see more of what we chose, click here: Stone Fireplace Mantle!)
Taking this thing down proved to be quite the challenge. It was made of plaster and styrofoam and reinforced with huge bolts and screws. I think it was never meant to be removed. Thank heaven for a handy hubby!
Once the outer coat was removed we were left with a styrofoam base. And if you’ve ever torn up styrofoam, you know that little pieces fly EVERYWHERE. Thankfully we covered all of the floors and furniture during each step of the removal process.
Ugh. What a mess.
After living with the messy wall for months, it was finally time to remove the rest of the sheetrock and replace it with new since the new mantle was nearly complete. Here we go!
It was slow going as my husband, Brad removed chunks of the old sheet rock. As he cut them out, I threw them into the truck to haul away to the dump.
Once all of the damaged sheetrock was removed, Brad cut an even line around the opening to allow for the new sheetrock.
In order for Brad to attach the new sheetrock, he needed to add new 2×4 studs as support. See him up there?
First piece of sheetrock in! Two more to go.
Once all three pieces were installed, Brad added tape and joint compound to seal the seams. In between the three coats of compound, Brad sanded lightly and wiped it with a damp sponge. Finally ready for primer!
And this is how it looks now! We used an oil-based primer to cover the joint compound and the sheetrock. It covered quite nicely in one coat. Nice work Brad! Clap, clap, clap!!
And here is how it looked last night. Next up is a few coats of paint to match the room and then the mantle installation! Woo Hoo!
Stay tuned for the new mantle! I hope we will hear from the manufacturer tomorrow. Meanwhile, I hope you have a great evening. Thanks so much for stopping by! Much love, Dell
