A fireplace should be the focal point of your home. Somewhere you want to cozy up next to in the winter and where you want to decorate and love. Mine…was none of those things. Ever since we bought our house in 2010 it was one of my least favorite things about our downstairs. So many other things came first, so I just lived with it.

The mantel was actually white when moved in. A white mantel is gorgeous, but not when you have brown and black tile.  A couple of years ago I decided I would paint the mantel black and that maybe that would make me like it more. While it didn’t stand out as bad as the white, it still was not what I wanted. Once we painted our downstairs and got lighter furniture, the fireplace was the only dark thing in the room and I knew it had to go. So, after years of pinning and dreaming….we finally decided it was time!

My husband and I have done a lot of DIY projects around our home, but this was one that we wanted to call in the professionals for to make sure it looked….well, professional. We found a great company (Rent my Husband if you are local in the Spring Hill, TN area…they are GREAT). You can find him and contact him on FB here! https://www.facebook.com/rentmyhusband2/?fref=ts They understood my exact vision and were ready to tackle our project.

They started this the week of Thanksgiving,  so I was super pumped to have it done before the holidays.  Things I knew I wanted and NEEDED included, shiplap above the mantel, a wood mantel, and herringbone tile. I showed them all my inspiration pics from Pinterest, and off to work they went. The ripped the existing out, and I did not shed a tear for that ugly ol’ tile. Bye Bye!! Here are some pics of the progress…

As they were working, I immediately knew one thing. Our TV could NOT go back above this beautiful new fireplace. I immediately started putting my plan in place on how I was going to convince the hubby of this. We have another piece in our living room that I knew it could go on and I just NEEDED to be able to stare at my beautiful new shiplap fireplace. I told him I wanted to decorate it to get some pictures before we put the TV back up. Needless to say, when they were done and I got it decorated…I could have cried (ok, maybe I did). It was everything I had dreamed of, pinned, wished for and more! Here are the initial after shots of the finished product!

The day after the fireplace was done my husband and I were in the car together delivering a piece of furniture I had painted. I started to beg and plea and give all my reasons for why we shouldn’t put the TV above the fireplace.  And after 15 years of marriage, he knows that I usually win these types of debates 🙂 Before we arrived back home I had him convinced to let me decorate it for Christmas so we could enjoy it for the holidays. I told him after that we could “talk” about MAYBE moving it back then.

Guess what, folks?! It’s January 7th. Christmas has come and gone and the TV is NOT above my fireplace and has no plans to be there anytime soon. It has grown on my husband like I knew it would and I’m so happy that he lets me do my thing and goes along with all of my craziness! Here are some pictures of the fireplace decorated for Christmas.

One of my other favorite features was adding some décor to the tiled floor, which I had never done previously. It makes such an impact and a difference. My favorites are my olive bucket, which I can change out what’s inside it from season to season. And you of course can’t go wrong with some cute lanterns, and it is great to mix and match them. I’m obsessed with these white washed lanterns with the copper tops! They come in 3 sizes and I may just have to get one to add to my collection 😉

Again, I can not say enough good things about Jeff at Rent My Husband.  The end results were better than I ever imagined, and he was so easy and good to work with. I highly recommend him for all your DIY projects if you are in this area!

All in all, this is one of those projects that left us asking why we didn’t have it done sooner. I am just so glad that we did finally go for it and now I’m looking around my house all “What can we shiplap next?”

 

~ Stacey

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