My brother called it the “Portal to Hell,” and I think that was a pretty accurate description. The black marble fireplace not only looked dated, but also seemed to suck the life out of the room.
We used this fireplace makeover by YoungHouseLove as our inspiration and used the exact same tiles from Lowe’s.
Purchase here:
Poplar Wood for Mantle Surround (You'll need exact measurements)
My brother came into town and as an engagement gift, built us the mantle surround and helped with the tiling. He used poplar wood from Home Depot. Using solid wood makes it much higher quality and it's built to last.
I did all the grouting. This is me, stirring the grout and looking like a little monster. You're supposed to do this with a drill and mud beater mixer... but our drill was too small, so I did it by hand. We’re eventually going to redo the kitchen- that will be Phase 3.
Another REALLY COOL element is that my brother ran speaker wire through the mantle surround to hide the wires. We also had an outlet added behind the TV. This is something Brant really wanted and it just makes the whole thing look so much cleaner!
We love how our mantle turned out. The whole transformation took about a week.
