Beautiful Built Mantel From Scraps {Fireplace #2}

Updating "The Lefere Mansion"

Fireplace #2

This old-but-new-to-us home of ours is blessed with three fireplaces.  Three!

Awesome.  Except my hubby does not want to mess with all that burning wood entails.  

He says he did enough of that as a kid to ever want to do it again. 

So I'm just waiting for the negative comments about the suitcases stacked in there, like the ones I got about the trunk in my family room fireplace.  No, not in the comment section here on Kammy's Korner, but on good ole' Facebook.  People seem to throw manners out the window when posting comments on a large social media outlet!  It's okay.  I'm a big girl. And I actually kind of like my trunk in the fireplace... so put that in your pipe and smoke it!

But everyone really should just calm down because guess what?  There's a dude, a really nice dude named Bill, that came over tonight to hook up a big, warm gas log.  Maybe, just maybe, I won't have to wear my stocking cap in the living room anymore.  That, or I could always turn the heat up. 

What the room liked like while we worked on the house, prior to moving in

So, a couple weeks ago, I shared the fireplace in Family Room that I so bravely stenciled.  Brave, because it was granite.  Well actually, that wasn't the first granite fireplace I painted.  This one was.

  Nothing was coming together in this massive room.  And I especially hated the look of the fireplace!  Even though I love yellow, the pale yellow walls combined with the pinkish tan granite, and then the lack of mantel just about pushed my home-decor-diva side over the edge.  

Someone commented to me on my blog that they heard you can use shaving cream to clean soot out. 

Shucks.  I hadn't heard that.  Too late.  Black paint, soot... all looks the same now!

A few Saturdays ago, I asked Hubby what was on his agenda.  Nothing.  Nothing?  Can I put something on it?  Like.... buildamantelforthefireplace???  After some major persuading that it was a perfectly great thing to do on a free Saturday and  lots of "you can do it"s....  I get the question that I always get.  And I answer with the answer I always answer with:

Hubby: So can I go buy new materials for this?

Me: No way.  Go out and look around in the shed.  We've got all kinds of stuff.  I'm sure you can come up with something.

Hubby:  It'd be a lot easier if I went to Lowes....

Me: Not when we got all these scraps leftover from fifty other projects!  Not to mention the faux wood beams we found in the garage attic!  Be creative.  *Big smile*.

Brainstorming.....

Here, he is using the back sides of leftover pieces from our white washed paneled ceiling in the kitchen:

These decorative "pillars" were found in the garage attic when we bought this place in the spring.  They look like wood... but are actually made out of Styrofoam!

Coming together......  The white piece under the faux beam is leftover crown molding from the kitchen.

After painting all the wood and what-appears-to-be-wood-but-really-is-some-man-made-concoction white.... I set to work on painting the granite. Totally against all the warnings, advice, and pleadings of my friends.  I went with my gut.  White would be best!  I DON'T GIVE A FIG NEWTON IF IT'S GRANITE!

I had originally bought this Zinsser Perma-White paint to paint the tile backsplash in my kitchen, after watching a YouTube video how to do it.  Since my sweet-as-puddin' electrician shoved a crowbar in my hand and made me beat it off the wall....  I didn't need it for that.  But it was the PERFECT paint for this project!  It dried good and hard and I didn't need to prime or sand.  Lots of people are worried that the heat will make it peel.  My instincts say it won't.  But I guess we'll find out as soon as Bill Dude finishes installing our gas log.

Foam rollers, people.  Foam rollers are best!

The "faux" beam was good, but not great.  Just looked too dark and fakish.  So yesterday, I decided to try taking some sandpaper to it.  I was afraid the bright yellow Styrofoam inside would show right through, but thankfully, it didn't!  I'm liking it so much better now.  Can you see the difference?

And there you have it!

Three hours after Hubby said "I have no clue how to build a mantel".... we have this!!

I let him eat at Culver's just for that.  Oh wait, that was for building our son a loft bed....

Again, these are just temporary!  Actually, they are stacked on the rug right now.  Since Bill Dude, the gas log installer just left.....  Now I'll need to find a new home for them!  Hmmm.

Pulled this barn door out of the barn.  Literally.  Hubby brought it in to the house for me.  Complete with old dirt and manure crusted on from decades ago.... but that's a post for another day.

Hope you enjoyed!  That's two fireplaces down, one more to go!  I've started the third.... but just barely!  Stay tuned....

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UPDATE: All Fireplaces are done!

And we got a gas log put in this one, here's an updated photo:


Click HERE to see the updates.

Firpelace #1 Family Room:



Fireplace #3 Master Bedroom:



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