Create The Fireplace You Want

Does your fireplace require a makeover to fit the lodge decor style that you want?

If you have one in your home, it will be the focal point of the room it is in. Therefore, you'll want to pay close attention to how it is decorated and what style it portrays.

Depending on the mantel, surround, and hearth materials, it may not fit the lodge decor style that you're ceating in your home.

When we bought our house, the fireplace in our family room was about as ugly as could be! It was constructed of brick with a concrete mantel and hearth, and it had been painted white with green marbling (which happened to look like mold). Yuck!

I gave it a quick makeover and repainted the bricks white. Well, it looked alot better, and we felt better about it for awhile.

After living in the house and looking at it everyday, I decided that it would be nicer if it were more natural looking and painted it brick red. Also, another step in the right direction. It looked better, but not quite right because it just didn't look natural.

Finally, my husband and I decided to make a drastic change and create the rustic fireplace we really wanted.

These are the steps we followed:

1. Detached the mantel and hearth

2. Attached wire mesh to the brick surface **TIP** It is helpful to use a diamond tip drill bit and hammer head drill in order to drill into the bricks to attach the wire mesh to them

3. Applied mortar to cover the mesh and allowed to dry completely

4. Applied second coat of mortar in small sections, so that it didn't dry before putting the stones in place

5. Spread some mortar on the back of each cultured stone (like spreading icing), and placed the stones in the moist mortar; held stone in place until it set properly

6. Continued with this process until the fireplace was covered

7. Attached new hearth stones

8. Placed beautiful rustic log mantel on top

It was definitely an amazing transformation - we love how it turned out.

There are many styles and patterns of stone available. The cultured stone dealers have pamphlets and books to assist you in your decision making.