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Mantle Renovation – Part 1
Sunday, February 24, 2013 12:13
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Today I cannot wait to share our latest renovation with you. Y’all have been so very patient with my lack of blogging and I hope you find it well worth the wait.
This project all started with a recliner and a TV.
Our living room is awkward as far as the layout goes. We have tried so many different arrangements over the past five years. Even though we have updated it quite a bit, something still wasn’t right.
Our poor living room continued to be haunted by the 70′s. The fireplace was the biggest eyesore in the entire house. If there was one area in our home that just screamed “old” – this was it.
The hearth was taking up a lot of room and I have always been afraid that Caleb would get hurt there. As wild as he is, I’ve been waiting on him to fall on it or off of it.
During the winter, you could also notice how cold the area was. I knew there was no insulation anywhere near the area.
Recently we were given a new recliner for our living room. Caleb and I had taken over our first recliner and we knew it was time for Ryan to enjoy one too. The only problem was that our living room was way too small to hold a large couch, two recliners, our entertainment center and massive, old TV.
Ryan cooked up this great idea… It was finally time to let go of our really old TV and get something new. The more we thought about it, the more we realized that we would love to have one above the fireplace. There was already another problem. My very typical man decided he didn’t want just any TV. No, it had to be a rather large TV.
Ryan will talk me into an idea of something reasonable to begin with. Then when we actually get to the store and stand in front of choices, his little scheming begins. I kid you not…Ryan missed his calling in sales.
We originally looked for a flat screen that would fit above the mantle. Then Ryan started talking about what a great deal a bigger TV was. By the time we were walking out of the store, we had a 51″ flat screen.
True story….
So here we are with a new recliner and a large TV that wouldn’t fit anywhere.
And we got the brilliant idea to make it all work.
Ryan removed the 2×4 mantle. I have absolutely despised that thing the entire time we’ve lived in this house.
He carefully began removing the stone from the fireplace. It took about an hour to tear it all down. It was absolutely messy!
By the end of the first night, we had everything cleared out. We realized how dark the room seemed with the old fireplace. Once we saw lighter colors in the brick, we realized this was one of the best decisions we had made.
The next evening, Ryan installed concrete backer board.
Then it was time for the tile! I wanted the room to feel more updated and brighter. We had actually purchased this tile a couple of years ago in bulk.
We had to wait for the thin set to dry and then grouted the tile.
Once the tile was complete, we began the wood work to surround it. Ryan also hung the TV.
He also cut a transition strip to go from the tile to the carpet.
I cannot wait to share the finished product with you! Check back to see the final reveal.
2013-02-24 12:05:05
Source: http://www.dailydoseofdelsignore.com/2013/02/mantle-renovation-part-1.html
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