Cosy up by the fire

A kitchen is the heart of the home, but if there are 2 chambers to a heart and I think the 2nd one goes towards the fireplace/mantle. It’s the place we all gather around for holidays. It’s always lit for dinner parties or to make you feel good, warm, taken care of & secure. Children gather round to warm their hands from frozen mittens, and special guests always get the warmest spot near the fire! Ours was damp, cold, filthy and lacked any appeal. We took off old pink tiles and removed brass items. I always loved marble on a fireplace. It reminded me of cold Christmas holidays with my family in Italy. I asked my husband for marble and we were quoted slabs $500-1000. My frugal man bought tiles in marble at The Home Depot for $75.00! It was a compromise, but a small one and I am more than pleased with the outcome. He then built and trimmed out a mantel box and painted it all in Dove White. It still didn’t cut it!  Something was missing… DEPTH! One night, while snuggled watching Fixer Upper I told Henryk, “That’s it! I need SHIPLAP!” We searched and were told it isn’t popular to build with it in this area. Before giving up hope, we decided to make mock shiplap! We used 8” slats of wood and spaced them with 2 stacked nickles before placing another slat of wood on top & nail gunning them into place. With a little trim set around it, nobody could tell it wasn’t the real deal! The fireplace was pretty but not very warm. We invested in a Jotul wood stove and it heats up the entire home! It is so cosy, easy to clean and use, and we save a ton of money using it! We are very fortunate that Vashon Island is a 10 min ride from home and we can be supplied with a cord of wood easily from there. I change out FREE PRINTABLE art from favorite blogs and pinterest to decorate the mantle because I don’t want soot on my nice stuff and I like to change with the seasons & that could get costly when you are changing things as much as I am! :) GUILTY AS CHARGED!  Thanks for taking a look at the before & after of our fireplace remodel.

Share This Story

Home Love Stories

You May Also Like

11 Comments

  1. 1

    I loved reading your post. I totally agree with you about the wood burner. We are lucky enough to get the logs free of charge and even though it means a lot of hard work I love to see our log store grow throughout the year. And how do we turn the heat down? Well we open the door into another room and let the heat fill that room too. The whole house is wonderfully warm and cosy. We bought a lovely little kettle to go on the top of our woodstove. It heats water for hot chocolate by the fireside. We love to warm the water for the hot water bottles on top of the fire too. Cosy beds and cosy house, all for free

  2. 2

    I love that Cheri!!! I bought a small cast iron kettle this winter and dropped in some orange essential oil and cinnamon sticks. Every time we ate Satsumas this winter, I’d toss in the peels too! Lol The house smells so good! Lol I think we are a kindred spirit!

  3. 3

    So beautiful and cozy, Nila. I love the shiplap over the fireplace. I too, watch Fixer Upper and had the same thought for our fireplace. I was all set to give it a go until I mentioned it to a couple of people and they kind of gave me that “you want to do what?” look so I started second guessing myself. Your pic brings back my confidence! Keep the pictures coming – we want more!! 🙂

  4. 4

    Nila, I LOVE the marble tile! I think it looks better than a slab. The shiplap is great too. We did that in our basement and are considering a feature wall in our master too. The room is just lovely and you certainly live in a gorgeous area. Thanks for sharing. Oh and hey, we have the same votive holders on our mantle 🙂

  5. 5
  6. 6

    Hi Nila! Your fireplace turned out so beautiful! And the shiplap was a great decision. The detailed wood and marble tile compliment each other. Love that mirror too! Picture perfect!

  7. 7

    I love everything. The tile is fabulous, the mantle to die for, the styling and accessories light and fun. Welcome to the Pacific Northwest!

  8. 8

    Love, love love! Just beautiful. I love art printables…cheap and easily changeable. I chang my decor a alot, too. so I can understandy. The fireplace turned out so transformed and just lovely. The “Spring Essentials” and the print depicting reading with dog are just charming.

  9. 9

    Love it! The mantle is beautiful. I had the same eureka moment watching Fixer Upper. We built a banquette for our dining space and I couldn’t decide how to handle the wall behind until I saw the shiplap. It’s one of my favorite places in our house now. I thought your framed artwork was adorable, then to read that they were free printables is even better. I may need to use that idea. Thanks for sharing!

  10. 10

    Nila, you and your husband are amazing! You have such vision. That shiplap is a great idea. When Tonya mentioned it I wasn’t sure what it was but I knew with her taste it would be right on the money. Now I’ve seen it and I say, “Cool!” It is terrific and would be great in her office as well.
    I love the tiles and the mantle. Perfect!
    The free printable art is such a smart choice for all the reasons you mentioned. I have done similar pieces using quotes I like or that are important to the person to whom I gift them. 🙂

    • 11

      Thanks so much for taking the time to leave such a lovely comment. We have really worked so very hard and it is nice to get some feed back that we did the right thing! Whew 🙂

Leave a Reply to Cherie Kemp Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>