Living Room Reveal

When we first found this house, I loved this room. Together, the combination of the mantel, built-in bookcases and flood of natural light from the huge wall of windows make for a warm, inviting room.  

While, this room clearly has a number of positive attributes, the tile surround on the fireplace was beige, boring and outdated and the brass on the glass doors were catapulting the room back to the 80's. A large (bathroom-like) framed mirror on the wall seemed oddly out of place. Finally, the dark yellowy beige wall color needed to go.

My plan A was to do mosaic glass and metallic tiles – and then I priced out the tile I wanted, and whoosh, it was going to be crazy expensive to do this small project.

Plan B. We found a beautiful, natural stone mosaic tile that we both loved at Lowes, that was also much more affordable. It's a mix of grey, white, cream and beige. The colors are perfect and coordinate well with the rest of our new wall colors. Here are the obligatory before and after photos. 

Below are photos of the fireplace, in progress. Once the tiles were removed, things got worse before they got better. Casey found a mess in the lower right corner, hidden behind some sheet rock that looked a little funky (like it had been wet at some point). Fortunately, I was at work while he pulled it out along with what resembled an old rodent/insect nest. We are not sure, but the critter had been long gone. This problem was remedied, the insulation and sheetrock were replaced and the area was prepped for tile. Within another day, he had the beautiful new tile up (yes, he is now a tile master...see our guest bathroom remodel). Next, the brass bars and pulls came down and were painted with high-heat black. Finally, the mirror on the wall was pulled down, and up went fresh paint on the ceiling, trim, walls and built-ins.

 

Here are a few more photos of the final project. I can't say enough amazing things about my handyman husband whose skills are clearly making our house into "the home" we want. We love how everything is turning out! 

 

 

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Thrifty Decor Chick