Confession: Epic Fireplace Fail

Hello friends,

Remember our fireplace makeover that began, um, nine months ago?  You don’t?  Well, let me give you a recap.

Our fireplace is a large, tiled, corner fireplace, and it always seemed kind of on the “cold” side, for lack of a better description.  (Old photo here, pre-hardwood floors, but you get the idea).

We wanted to preserve the tile that was on the fireplace by using a product called Airstone – looks like stone and can be installed directly over the tile.  Perfect.  Diane, from In My Own Style, did a fabulous job transforming her fireplace, and I loved the look.  Plus, it would accomplish our goal of keeping the tile intact.

I was also a smitten kitten with Layla’s fireplace makeover at The Lettered Cottage – so ours was going to be a hybrid approach, incorporating elements from both of these fireplace transformations.

So, we got cracking (back in November, that is).  I had a cookie exchange party deadline, which means that I get highly motivated to get. stuff. done.

Hardwood floors were installed, and we drywalled over the top portion of the fireplace and started working on a mantel.

The Airstone was an easy installation, and we were going to frame the sides with wood.

We added additional molding detail to the top portion of the fireplace, and were on version 3.2 of the mantel.  But then, I wasn’t feeling the idea of wood on the sides of the fireplace anymore.  And let me just state for the record, that corner fireplaces (and their mantels) are a huge pain when it comes to making changes to them.  I curse you miter saw…

So, we lived with it for awhile.  And then the kids would make comments like, “Mom, when are you going to finish the fireplace?  Didn’t you start it in like, November?  Geez, that was like, eight months ago.”

But, living with it, didn’t make me like it any better.  So, we’re starting over.  We’re going to take the tile off completely and just go all in on a redo.  So, this is what it looks like now:

Stone samples, but I’m not digging on them right now either.  Back to the drawing board.  We’re also thinking about taking the stone all the way to the ceiling (which means all of my hard drywall work would be for nothing.  Le sigh.)

But, by taking it down to the bones, we’ll be able to get this done right (hopefully).  We are still arguing debating about the mantel.  I would like a wood mantel, hubby is suggesting things like “stone slab mantel”.  Since it’s a crazy corner fireplace, it’s in no way “standard”, which makes it a real treat.

So, there you have it.  My fireplace fail confession.  I guess the lesson in this is to really take your time and think through a project before jumping in with both feet.  But sometimes, I am a slow learner just can’t help myself.

Do you have any epic DIY fails to share?