The beginning of a BIG project

There is a long brick fireplace/heart that cuts across the corner of my dining room. Odd, I know. The room used to be a den but in made more sense to the layout of our house to use it as a dining room. And the idea of a fireplace in the dining room is really kind of neat to me. A fireplace says come in, sit down, warm up, have a good meal. It has kind of an old timey farmhouse charm that's a natural pairing for a dining room.

Except not THIS fireplace. It's loooong and it's ugly.


The brick is somehow simultaneously busy, blah, and dark. The floor-to-ceiling aspect overwhelms and makes the whole room feel dark. There are so many colors in the brick it's impossible to put anything in front of it and have the items stand out. And what you can't see from the photo is how narrow the mantel is. It's only 7 inches deep. But it's easily 10 feet long. So whenever I see pictures in decorating magazines and on DIY blogs with these beautiful, creative, colorful mantelscapes, I can love them from a distance but know that they will be impossible to replicate in my own home on my long, skinny, ugly fireplace.



It's only taken 13 years, but we've finally come up with a solution! YAY!!! My original plan was to paint the brick, but sweet husband says he doesn't want to do something that can't be undone. I'm thinking, "When would I EVER want this brick again?" But since sweet hubby lives at this house (and is doing most of the work), I found another solution.

Instead of painting the brick, the plan is to nail sheetrock above the fireplace so that it looks just like the walls on either side and effectively cutting the fireplace off at its knees. That will solve the looming dark aspect. And to solve the long, skinny mantel problem the plan is to create a larger mantel that will fit around the original. Work has already begun. I can't wait until it's all done!!

Toodles,