Today I am sharing our fireplace before and after transformation. When we moved into this 1950’s fixer-upper in 2019 we had no idea what to do with this huge room.
So we made it into our dining room. But this never felt right because of the size of this room.
Initially, this room was meant to be the living room but in the 1970s someone added a second living room to this house making the layout very funky.
After a few years of doing all sorts of different things with this room, we decided to fix up the fireplace and make a sitting area there.
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Here is the layout and what the fireplace looked like before we changed it. This is a very traditional 1950s fireplace. With 2 very tiny shelves that aren’t really good for anything.
Our plan was to knock off one shelf and cover the other one with a mantle made out of wood.
The Fireplace Project Starts:
Here we are cutting off the brick shelf and adding the structure that will hold up the mantle shelf.
Luckily my husband is a finish carpenter so he was able to make the floating mantel and secure it on the brick wall.
I really wanted to warm up this space with some color. We picked a warm gray color that has a hint of green to it.
Brick Paint Color: BEHR Pumice MQ6-23 (we chose a matt finish)
Adding this color did two things; it helped to warm up this space and it helped to make this room look slightly smaller and less stark.
(we still need to add a rug under the chairs)
It feels great to have a calm place to sit and read or hang out near the fire. I also love that this sitting area helped to break up this huge space into different zones.
Here is how the whole room looks now.
I tried to find most of the decorations from shopping my own home or secondhand stores. Both plants that are on the mantel are from other rooms in my home.
The two candle holders are from the thrift store, but the mirror is new. I wanted a very specific-looking mirror and decided to just buy it online.
Find the mirror we bought here from Wayfair.
We found these chairs from Scott Living. I was so excited to find 2 chairs that were the size and style we wanted.
Normally I like lighter-colored furniture, but I have learned with time that in a house with 3 little kids, it’s not a good idea.
I know it can be done, but I prefer to go with slightly darker furniture now and save myself the stress.
Here is a link to these chairs.
The lamp you see in the background of this photo sitting on our buffet table was something we bought a few years ago but looks great with this new warmer color scheme.
Here is the link to that table lamp.
After Fireplace
This burnt orange footstool is something that we are trying out from my parent’s home. My mom told me I could have it if I wanted, so we are going to see how we like it for a while.
So far this is a very cozy way to put up our feet.
Before Photo:
Above is another before photo.
We found this floor lamp second-hand for $17. but I didn’t really like the original lampshade so we were able to find a replacement at Lamp’s Plus.
Here is the link to the Lampshade.
I love these faux candles because they look so real! When these are lit up at night I can’t even tell they aren’t real.
They also come with a remote and can be set to come on when it gets dark. I have all my candles come on around 5 pm and they stay on till we go to bed.
We are so happy with this new cozy reading nook. This is the first time I have ever had a mantel LOL. In all of our previous homes, we never had a mantel for some reason and I just love the look of it.
Links to Decor:
Very nice. Now it’s a dual destination room, instead of a pass-through.