“Designing, redesigning- they both feel like fun to me.”
―Layla Palmer
Y’all!!!
I have some fun fireplace news to share with you today! 😀
First, let’s revisit the inspiration pic I put together in Photoshop a while back:
Remember that?
Remember how I dreamed of a gray-blue background, a chocolate-y brown rustic mantel beam, a custom-built mantel, complete with chunky-monkey, chippy old corbels? Remember how I wanted to use bricks that leaned tan/taupe, and how I talked about not wiping off all the mortar when they were installed so that the area around the firebox had a southern living-meets-european farmhouse-meets-historic house vibe?
And remember when I showed you that not wiping off all the mortar off turned out to be a bad idea last week?
Well, guess what? I got craftsy with it and I *think* it’s lookin’ pretty good in the neighborhood!
If you follow my Periscope feed, you already know what I’ve been up to, but for those who haven’t seen the live broadcasts, I watered down some left over Trail Tan craft paint, and slapped it on each brick with a small paint brush. After a few seconds, I blotted most of it off with a damp paper towel, and then I wired brushed my way to the tone I was after all along!
Check it out:
Here’s a side by side, before-and-after comparison so you can really see the difference:
It was hard to tell the difference between the grout and the bricks in the before photo on the left, but now there’s more definition between the two, as shown on the right.
Brushing it off while the water/paint mixture was wet seemed to create a darker brown color, and brushing it off after the water/paint mixture had completely dried created more of a gray color. Here’s another before and after comparison shot…before on the left, after on the right:
It was kind of scary not knowing how it would turn out, but I figured, hey- worse case scenario, I can tile over the brick. No biggie. Designing, redesigning- they both feel like fun to me. 😉
And let’s face it, if I hate it when the white mantel moves in, I can still tile over it. #IAin’tScaredOfNoBrick
Speaking of the mantel, here’s a picture I put together in Photoshop that *sort of* shows what it’ll *sort of * look like when we have the mantel in place:
Keep in mind, that is not a real mantel on there. That’s just a picture of a mantel I found on Google Images and pasted into place. We’re going to start building our mantel on Thursday, and I can hardly wait to see it all primed and painted…and chunky monkey-corbeled, of course. Later this year, we’ll start on the cabinetry on each side of the fireplace. I can hardly wait to put those things to work, too! #StorageGoals
Love it! I think it looks much better than the version from a couple days ago. Nice job!
Looks awesome. Great DIY project. I need to be more adventurous and try new things like you are doing. We have a fireplace but no mantel. Makes me sad when santa comes, no place to hang stockings!!!
This is a crazy question but I love the shape of your glasses. Any chance you would share with me who makes them & their style name? Not a problem if you aren’t comfy with this. 🙂
I also wrote a long comment about your fireplace but I was a bozo and deleted it by mistake. Great job of not giving up on the fireplace and turning your dislike into a like. I am loving the progress and look forward to seeing the homemade mantel.
Thanks, Tina! I’ve actually been asked that quite a lot since I started wearing them last year. Here’s the info: Vogue VO2787 1916 53 – 16 140
🙂
looks great! love that the darker spots on the brick and the variations in the colors lends it a nicely aged look!! way to problem solve!! cant wait to see the finished product!
LOVE it! Bet you’re so much happier now. 🙂 You look so lovely in all those T-shirts! Just adorable!
Hi Layla, I’m contemplating doing a very similar kind of fireplace and am noodling around with the proportions. Would you mind sharing your ceiling height and the height to the top of your hearth and to the top of your mantle? Love how it’s coming along!
I’d like this info too as we are deciding on hearth height for our new house right now and I think this will be my inspiration picture 🙂 Love it!!
Love it. Well done.
Looking much better. Can’t wait to see it finished.
DO NOT tile over the brick. This looks fantastic!
Well done! Love it!
LOVE IT!! It looks fantastic – leave it just the way it is! 🙂
Love the brick and what you did to achieve it! Don’t tile it! 🙂 Brick is timeless and won’t date itself in ten years……
Love you! Can’t wait to see more about Sweet P.
Love the brick but really can’t tell which is the old and which is the new. Looks great and love your blog.
Thanks, Vicky! The heavily-washed brick on the left is the original brick. The newly-fixed up brick on the right is the new. 😉
Yep! Looks better! Good job~
I likey!!
Perfection! Please keep the brick cause it’s gorgeous. Looking forward to the mantle ?
Oh it looks wonderful! The tan and wire brush really helped warm up the brick and make it less “heavy”. I can’t wait to see more!! Woohoo!! Great work it’s looking awesome and so much like your inspiration photo.
Lauren Baxter | Lovely Decor
xx
Wow! I makes the brick look more defined. Love the look!
Ya baby!!!! That’s it!! You did it. Score! (little victory dance goin’ on lol) It definitely looks like the pic now–warmer, hint more tan…Wonderful job. Totally inspiring. Can’t wait for the rest. It’s such a good feeling to have your project almost completed and going in the direction you intended. Trusting your gut was the way to go! Have fun.
The fireplace looks amazing and I already have my shirt picked out!!!!!
Hi Layla, it looks great!
Perfection. Just right. I love the update.
What gray blue are you using on the mantle? Thank you!
Great job Layla..still am loving the rustic mantle in the photo but know you want to change it. I love that you started your blog with a quote from you!
Oh, no, we just added that rustic beam, Sunny! 😀 We’re just adding a mantel surround underneath it! XO
Looks great! Did you wire brush the mortar between the bricks on the one side to match the other side?
Wow, Your changes really did the trick. I love it!
What an improvement! Your changes did the trick…it looks amazing!
Wow… I love the light blue color! It’s so dramatic yet calm and soothing at the same time! Can’t wait to see the whole thing with the mantle in place!
I went to the blogthreads to look at the shirts, but I don’t see the It is Well with my Soul in the baseball style shirt that you have on here. I really liked that one!
Hi Gayla! It’s on there now, next to the “Big Dreams” shirt! 🙂
Thanks! cute shirts and designs. I may end up getting the It is Well in one of the other ones due to the sizing although I really liked the baseball tee style. The unisex size small may be a little big. I have one of your shirts, Built to Bloom, in the ladies cut M and I really like the fit of it.
Also….I wanted to comment on your fireplace. Love what you are doing to it!!!! I have some plans for ours in the future and I really like what you are doing. Your style and ideas are always great inspiration in projects I find myself doing.
Thanks for sharing!
And…..I am praying for you all in your adoption process. The patience in waiting must be so difficult at times, but I know the God of Peace is with you.
-Gayla
Hi Gayla!
If you like the fit of the Built To Blossom shirt in Medium, you will want to order the same size in the baseball tee. They are the same shirt, essentially. The only difference is one has sleeves and one doesn’t. 🙂
Thank you for the sweet compliment on our fireplace! I’m excited to get the mantel in place this weekend! XO
ok. Thanks. I thought the unisex sizes fit differently than the ladies’ cut sizes. I’ll look at the size chart.
Thanks.
That’s correct. The ladies cut shirts run two sizes smaller than the unisex shirts. For example, I wear a Large in the ladies cut shirts and a Small in the unisex short sleeve tees and unisex baseball tees. XO
Hi Layla, it looks great! Can you tell me what color stain you used on the mantel? We are building a house and just stained the cedar posts on the porches – it turned out way too red. Your mantel is just the color I was going for. Thanks!
You are SO courageous! Good job! Beautiful! Can hardly wait to see the mantel!
Well done! Looks perfect.
Yes! That is it!!! Perfection!!!
Wow!! A reader just linked this page on my post about my fireplace build. We are using the same inspiration picture!!
Yours is looking amazing and I am off to read the rest of your blog! Well done.
Cheers,
Nat
Great job refining the look of the whitewashed bricks! I want to do the same to bricks around our fireplace, and have practiced a few times on some extra bricks. Each time the white washed out all the color without the aging look of brick. Now I know what to try next–thanks to you!
Great job! It looks fantastic. Problem Solver Layla!