Sometimes I get in this rut of not doing anything to update, because I don’t have thousands of dollars to do it all at once. I need a new floor. I have old ugly cabinets. (I did update them and will show you in a later post.) I have old countertops and all of my customers have beautiful granite countertops. Poor Me.

Well, it’s time to quit feeling sorry myself and do a little bit at a time and quit wanting it all at once. (Hopefully, this is the year for my new floor. Yaaaaaay!!!)

We just got back from market and the fireplace project we started before we left was finished by my wonderful workman (husband) and ready to share with you as promised. Here’s what I found when we got bak: A fun update for under $75.

As you can see, the fireplace is very 90’s looking. The mantel was stained a cherry wood and the tile was that wonderful “hunter green.” So nineties.

Well, my wonderful design team, never does anything half way. We got started on the project and discovered that taking the ceramic tile off was going to be more difficult than we had first thought. When we put the tile on in ’95, my contractor (my husband) put it up with glue that would withstand an F5 tornado. So he decided to take the whole mantel off so that he could reach each of the thousands of pieces of the tile that was breaking off as we were removing them.

He told me that as he put up the new mantel, he was going to make it easily removable because he had a feeling I would be doing it again in a few years. (He’s so good to me!)

We sanded the mantel some so that the paint would stick. Then we applied a primer from Menard’s. (Fast Prime 2, Interior Water-base Primer & Sealer) We let it dry for a couple of hours and then applied Menard’s Grand Distinction paint called “Tallgrass.” Then we added the black marble to the frame of the front of the fireplace.

I wanted to add a little interest to the mantel, so we applied a wood applique. Such a little add-on that I think gave the mantel so much more character. Picture # 1149 and 1148.

Finished! I loved it. Such an inexpensive update. I should have done it 10 years ago.


Can’t wait to update the paper in the room. It’s coming down soon. I’m having so much fun. I have a really fun idea for the chair rail.

We are excited to share some of the pictures from market, so will put up a post before long about that. We came home from market this year feeling so inspired. We even know how the store is going to be set up before the products start coming in. For us, that’s wonderful. Mark your calenders for the first spring open house March 29, 30 and 31.