Remember my fireplace with the pine green tiles and the honey oak trim? No? Yeah, it was pretty forgettable.
But did you know that you can buy a few square feet of tiles and a can of white paint and change all that builder grade blah?
Not sure if you noticed but I also changed a strip of that oak trim that didn't jut out far enough around the edges and replaced it with my favorite egg and dart molding. I also painted the brass part of the fireplace insert with black high heat paint. Careful, that stuff stinks something awful.
Much better, huh?
Here's an intermediate picture.
I used a big pry bar to pop the wood column things off the sides. Then Jon broke off the tiles. Hulk smash! As I recall, the underlying drywall got pretty beat up in the process of pulling off the old tiles, so we just cut new strips of drywall (you can get small pieces at Lowes or Depot) and screwed them into any exposed 2x4s. Then it was smooth sailing. Smooth tiling. These tiles came in 12" square sheets, which makes the process much easier. Then I painted the wood and screwed the posts back on. Voila!
Wow! What a transformation! Great job!
ReplyDeleteyou make it sound so easy! It looks fantastic. First thing I did when we moved into our house was paint the brass fireplace surround with black paint. Except I just used regular old black spray paint. That was 5 years ago and it's held up like the day I painted it. http://thealexandersut.blogspot.com/2008/08/better.html
ReplyDeleteWow Katie looks amazing, your genius strikes again!
ReplyDeleteGood morning Katie.
ReplyDeleteYou have a great website and so inspirational! I am going to attempt to upcycle an old roll top desk for my daughter with chalk paint (which I have never done before). I would love to put her large distressed monogram in a distressed french frame seen here (http://thegraphicsfairy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/French-Vintage-Images-Frame-GraphicsFairy21.jpg) on the writing area of the desk using possibly a modge podge transfer technique you show on your site (with the clown) or other typography tranfer technique that you may recommend. I also don't know how to incorporate the initials/monogram and the frame together to make one image to transfer and then how to make the letters backwards so they transfer the right way? I have never done this before and could use some guidance and would love to hear from you.
Your advice on your techniques would be genuinely appreciated!
Thanks!