Whew, I can’t even explain what a relief it is to finally have our stacked stone fireplace finished!
Table of Contents
Prepping the fireplace
Let’s start back at where we left off a few weeks ago. Our handyman first installed 2×4’s for cement board support:
Living in the mountains now, I’ve embraced the cabin style (albeit in a subtle way) and at the heart of any good mountain retreat is a statement-making stone fireplace. We love the more modern look of stacked stone and were very pleased with how the bar wall in our kitchen turned out so we used the same quartz stone.
Material selection
After purchasing 300 sf ft of Desert Quartz ledgestone, we decided to keep the hearth simple with inexpensive light gray porcelain tile, which ended up being around just $40 total.
After weeks of hunting down a tile guy, he came in last Tuesday and started the prep work. This was the end of Day 1:
Ledgestone installation
Then the tiling began. End of Day 2:
More tiling and cement board—end of day 3:
By Friday evening (day 4) it was 95% done. Excuse the crappy cell phone pic…
The finishing touches were added Saturday morning (another bad pic, sorry!)
Fireplace makeover reveal
This is one of those things where you just have to be standing in front of it to really get a sense of scale and the way this changes the entire feel of the room. It truly is the heart of our home now.
I’m trying real hard to pretend like it’s fall here, even though it was 90° yesterday.
We have more firewood than we know what to do with, and I’m so looking forward to putting this new fireplace to good use.
Change is coming, soon… I can feel it…
We have this tree in our front yard that started producing these perfect orange and red bulbs (seeds?) the first week of autumn, right on cue. It makes for some great festive arrangements.
I scored this whole stack of vintage books at our local flea market the other day for just $10 (along with that chunky blanket for $1).
My Roman Numerals print decided to make another appearance… the classic black and white typography just goes with everything (and adds a touch of sophistication, don’t you think?). I layered it witha black and white vacation photo (see more on that DIY project here).
You’ll have to ignore the weird lighting. The bottom of the fireplace had natural light from the windows shining on it, so the top looks a bit darker and warmer in color. It’s all uniform in real life, I promise.
The brass candlestick holders were also a flea market score, and I found the inexpensive black lanterns online here—they have so many to choose from!
The antler candle holder was a gift from my friend’s dad who makes them.
We have a fireplace screen that will be in place normally, but I left it off for this shoot.
Autumn needs to hurry up and get here so we can cuddle up with our furbabies by the fire. I know they’re anxious for it too.
Before and After
And now the best part… where we can fully appreciate the makeover by traveling back in time to the “Before”…
And after we painted the walls…
Can’t wait to get the rest of the living room put back together! We’ll be working on that tomorrow. And then I have some exciting news later this week, along with perhaps my proudest DIY furniture build yet.
See you in a few days!
Nikki says
This looks amazing! We are in the process of repurposing the wood as our previous mantle by painting it the same color you have as yours. Did you stain or use a paint based color? The wood we have was previously painted white so we aren’t able to stain it unfortunately – what did you do??
jennasuedesign says
Hi Nikki, mine was bare wood so I stained it. If your wood is smooth you can use a paint stripper but it’s a lot of work! If you want to see the wood grain, I’d honestly just find a new piece of wood to use.
Danielle says
What size is your Roman numerals print?
jennasuedesign says
20×28″ 🙂
Joseph says
I think this looks lovely. Is the mantle height to code? Seems rather low for a woodburning fireplace and curious about heat generated
Christina cartwright says
Please tell me what time you used and where you got it? Thank u, Christina
jennasuedesign says
Hi Christina, there’s a link to the product in the post after the first photo 🙂 It’s desert quartz from Lowe’s.
amber says
Hi,
Can you confirm the stone from Lowes is Desert Quartz Ledgestone Split Face Natural Stone Random Indoor/Outdoor Wall Tile (Common: 6-in x 12-in; Actual: 5.9-in x 11.81-in) please?? Thanks!
jennasuedesign says
Yep!
Melinda says
Where did you get the mantle? And what is the size?
Chelsea says
How did the tile installer do the corners? Also is the mantel a reclaimed beam? Thanks!
jennasuedesign says
Yes the mantel is reclaimed wood—he just left the edges with the natural stone and lined them up without using corner pieces.
Maria says
Where did you get the mantel?
Jenna Sue says
From Lowe's, link in post 🙂 https://www.lowes.com/pd_354393-93840-20-616_0__
Anonymous says
so where did you get the tile? Brand name? etc. Thanks.
The White City Project says
What a difference! I think it's a great balance between rustic and contemporary.