(before)

Fireplace season has arrived, and since we plan on using the heck out of ours this year, so this was the next project we couldn’t wait to get started on. I enlisted the help of my whiz of a friend Emily Harris (who did our dining room walls), to help achieve more of the aged european look I was aiming for. This is what we came up with…

 (AFTER)

Emily has a unique process for custom finishes, but here are a few things we did that can help give you ideas of how you can transform your own fireplace:
1) We distressed the wood mantle before painting it White Moderne by Behr Collection. Emily then painted a glaze mix on top to get more of a driftwood look.
2) Our mantle base is real stone, but the wall area is actually faux stone! Emily painted the base white, and let dry. She finished with the same color glaze as the mantle which attaches to the crevices more allowing for more of a real stone look in antiqued white. She did the same for the base of the fireplace which tied everything together.
3) We scrubbed portions of the mantle to distress it a little further.

I used one of Emily’s custom wall art pieces that pulled all the colors of our living room together. Now it’s time for some curtains and fall decor! I hope this gets your wheels turning of ways you can spice up your mantle this season, or if you are in the Atlanta area, you can just call Emily Harris….she is the master at custom finishing. Next week I will share some fall mantle decor ideas so stay tuned!

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