HOW TO REFACE A STONE FIREPLACE (PT. 1)
confession: i hate our fireplace.
Rustic realness.
THERE, I SAID IT. But before I give you the low-down on how to reface the stone fireplace in your home, let me first fill you in on why we’re tackling this project in the first place.
HERE’S THE SCOOP:
My husband and I closed on this home, our first home, on Valentine’s Day 2019. Our closing date came after four months of vigorous research (otherwise known as an unhealthy attachment to our Zillow apps), working with the most patient real estate agent on the planet and walking through all the Opendoor homes within a 25-mile radius like it was our job. The commitment was real, folks.
The good news? All our “hard work” paid off and we found our almost-perfect dream home — a crisp and classic colonial home with loads of curb appeal and plenty of room to grow. Bonus? It’s four minutes from Joey’s work.
The catch? Our dream home came equipped with a few, er, questionable design choices that do not align with our personal style or, and more importantly, the architectural style of the home.
And by questionable design choices, what I really mean is “what the fuck were they thinking?” design choices. That sort of thing.
One of the most distracting wtfwtt-choices in our home is the dusty, dark and undeniably out-of-place, rustic stone fireplace that (of course) serves as the central focal point in our open-concept kitchen and living room. This thing is an imposing sea of gray, beige and — strangely enough —purple stones, anchored by a sizable, reclaimed wood mantel that offers endless space for candles, garland and tchotchkes, galore.
Now, don’t get me wrong, this fireplace would make a stunning addition to any mountainside cabin, country cottage or off-the-grid farmhouse homestead. But in our light and bright, colonial home? It’s a hard no from me, friends.
the goal
Above we have a very rough sketch, covered in eraser shavings, to give you a little idea of what we’re aiming for.
Understated elegance.
We want to remove the floor-to-ceiling stone and oversized block mantel and replace it with a timeless and fresh fireplace design.
Think: A classic, creamy-white mantel with a painted-brick surround and a high-gloss finish. We’re not trying to recreate the wheel here, you know?
We aim to give our focal point a fresh, clean facade that makes a statement by its meticulous craftsmanship, crisp paint job and attention to detail, rather than its current, imposing materials and bulky mantel shelf.
getting started
The first step towards completing our goal of refacing our stone fireplace is to — you guessed it — rip down those stones!
My dad spends the majority of his free time spoiling my mom with one home improvement project after another and has tons of experience with successfully transforming just about any space imaginable in a home. He and my husband, Joey, worked together to strategize and execute the demo and it turned out to be much easier (and quicker!) than they originally anticipated.
Which, hi, that almost never happens and we love that.
Check out How to Reface a Stone Fireplace (PT. 2) to find out the tools, materials and methods my two favorite guys used to successfully remove a shit-ton of stone and concrete, from our fireplace façade.