My Fireplace

I wanted a fireplace, every time I would bring it up hubby had the same things to say. You had one ( was electric) hamster got loss chewed the cord kids would turn the heater on in the summer. We don't have the room what are you going to get rid of, have to work it in the budget .

You know how men are , I told him we can build one it is cheaper and I have the perfect spot for it. He was not buying it , I was at the thrift store and what did I find , a fireplace insert. I was so excited I came home with my $5.00 insert and said well can we build it now. He was not as happy as me I can tell you that he is not in to building or repairing things . He once again said we don't have the room,wait till I get the time , I will see .

I explained that we have the built in book shelf never used really only for clutter we can take out the middle shelf and turn it in to a nice fireplace well I got the shoulder shrug . I thought about it and when he went to work the next day I started to work on it, you see I have a trick if I want him to do something I take it apart then he has to help put it back together lol. Yes sneaky I know but it's the only way to get him to fix or redo it. So I took the middle shelf out then measured and cut my boards had to build a frame to make the opening smaller. Faced it with bead board ,put molding around the opening . Wow all I need it a mantel and some paint , my youngest son helped with the mantel . I painted the inside black to dark so Ineed brick well

I have no brick so I painted faux brick inside and then painted the out side my 2 sons put the mantel on, hubby got home and was really surprised he did like it he had to admit . The next day

when I was looking at it it just look top heavy so I thought platform is what it needs so back out to the garage I built my platform stained it the same color my son used for the mantel . So now hubby has told everyone to come look at my fireplace he really likes it but he is just happy he didn't have to help lol .


Supplies needed for brick

1"x1" scrub brush ( you know the ones for dishes)

sea sponge

3 foam brushes

black paint for base coat

brick or barn red paint (mine is barn red it's what I had)

sandstone paint color

harvest gold paint color

slate gray paint (slat gray, harvest gold,sandstone are all acrylic craft paint)

clear sealer ( buy at walmart )

Paint the base coat black let dry use sponge and sponge on red dab the paint on thick it good
let dry use foam brush just the tip of it lightly add the other colors one color at a time random as real brick would be , now you can use a foam brush and some lite gray paint and go in a pattern
dab your faux mortar in as brick would be . let dry overnight now seal I used spray sealer you can use what you want .