{"id":4068,"date":"2016-03-20T14:44:24","date_gmt":"2016-03-20T19:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/?p=4068"},"modified":"2016-03-20T15:49:08","modified_gmt":"2016-03-20T20:49:08","slug":"diy-fireplace-transformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2016\/03\/diy-fireplace-transformation.html","title":{"rendered":"DIY Fireplace Transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script src=\"\/\/assets.pinterest.com\/js\/pinit.js\" async=\"\" defer=\"defer\"><\/script><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4069\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2016\/03\/diy-fireplace-transformation.html\/img_5197-2\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4069\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4069\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4069\" src=\"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/IMG_5197-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Our next (small) DIY project, freshening up our fireplace.\" width=\"630\" height=\"473\" srcset=\"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/IMG_5197-1024x768.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/IMG_5197-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/IMG_5197-768x576.jpg 768w, http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/IMG_5197.jpg 1632w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4069\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Our next (small) DIY project, freshening up our fireplace.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>We&#8217;re at it again. Dave and I had been contemplating our fireplace for quite some time&#8230;with some of other changes happening on the main floor of our house, we wondered what we could do to make our mundane, builder-grade fireplace more modern-looking.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>We looked on Pinterest for some ideas; our favorites involved <a href=\"http:\/\/vcgteam.com\/portfolio-view\/ballard-living-room-fireplace-remodel\/\">drystack<\/a> or travertine but we didn&#8217;t feel it was worth all that work. After all, the fireplace works perfectly well. Our entire motivation was cosmetic. When it comes to cosmetic, we want to keep our costs to a minimum.<\/p>\n<p>We found some nice ideas on simply painting what we had to update the look.<\/p>\n<p>So that&#8217;s our plan.<\/p>\n<p>While I&#8217;d have LOVED a gorgeous <a href=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/Mn0qXju8UXw\/maxresdefault.jpg\">beetle kill pine mantle<\/a>, it wasn&#8217;t necessary. So we looked into painting our existing mantle a dark color similar to the bookcases to its left and right. Dave discovered that we could use something called a &#8220;gel stain&#8221;&#8230;it goes on nearly as thick as paint, but still allows wood grain to shine through.<\/p>\n<p>We picked up this gel stain through Amazon:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/General-Finishes-JQ-Stain-quart\/dp\/B001DSY50Y\/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&amp;linkCode=li2&amp;tag=grocontomaj0c-20&amp;linkId=28dfa2586c8e03a1be5805d0d040e5b3\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;ASIN=B001DSY50Y&amp;Format=_SL160_&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=grocontomaj0c-20\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=grocontomaj0c-20&amp;l=li2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B001DSY50Y\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It costs more than paint or standard stain, but all the reviews we&#8217;ve read have been very positive.<\/p>\n<p>So&#8230;deep brown stained mantle. What about the brick?<\/p>\n<p><a data-pin-do=\"embedPin\" data-pin-width=\"medium\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/pin\/272749321161218770\/\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Our plan is to simply paint the brick white. We have plenty of white paint on hand. It shouldn&#8217;t take more than a quart or so.<\/p>\n<p>There you have it. A fireplace update for about $30. And time. Yes, this will take some time. We also have to sand and prime the mantle, but we also have those materials on hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We&#8217;re at it again. Dave and I had been contemplating our fireplace for quite some time&#8230;with some of other changes happening on the main floor of our house, we wondered what we could do to make our mundane, builder-grade fireplace more modern-looking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[306,647,646],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ycQ0-13C","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4079,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2016\/04\/diy-fireplace-wip.html","url_meta":{"origin":4068,"position":0},"title":"DIY Fireplace Transformation: Work in Progress","date":"03 April 16","format":false,"excerpt":"I thought you might like to see our progress. Frankly, I haven't done much personally with this project. Jacob unloaded the bookcases for us, and Dave is doing everything else. For reference, here's the \"before\" look. I am loving how this is going to look! And here's a picture of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"diy\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/12931196_10153630523828865_1335726189034613061_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4127,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2016\/04\/diy-fireplace-reveal.html","url_meta":{"origin":4068,"position":1},"title":"DIY Fireplace Transformation: The Reveal!","date":"06 April 16","format":false,"excerpt":"Tonight Dave finished up the fireplace paint job. Today's work was mostly just correcting the bleed-under at the\u00a0tape lines. (That's a whole other\u00a0rant: we have tried EVERYTHING and can't seem to find a masking tape that can completely avoid bleed-under. We invested in the good \"Frog Tape\" and we've tried\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"diy\"","img":{"alt_text":"The final result. I LOVE it!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_5271-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4725,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2016\/09\/diy-stairs-transformation.html","url_meta":{"origin":4068,"position":2},"title":"DIY Stairs Transformation: Our Trickiest Stain Job Yet","date":"29 September 16","format":false,"excerpt":"We've been doing a lot of little updates around the house lately. The most recent one I shared was with the fireplace last spring. I've been working full time off and on since July, but now I have a break for a couple months and I can return to our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"diy\"","img":{"alt_text":"diy_deck_bath_stairs-1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/DIY_Deck_Bath_Stairs-1-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":808,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/04\/painting-progress.html","url_meta":{"origin":4068,"position":3},"title":"Painting Progress","date":"04 April 12","format":false,"excerpt":"This week we've been painting the great room and kitchen of our house. Yes, it's a rental, but all this time it's been sterile white in color...EVERYWHERE and frankly it was getting on my nerves. \u00a0For starters, it shows EVERYTHING. \u00a0Every smudge, every scuff, every bump by a backpack, piece\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"house\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/FinishedPaintedFireplace.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2779,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2013\/12\/colorado-discoveries-20-sledding-rmnp.html","url_meta":{"origin":4068,"position":4},"title":"Colorado Discoveries 20: Sledding at Rocky Mountain National Park","date":"05 December 13","format":false,"excerpt":"The weekend before Thanksgiving, my friend Paige and I took our sons up to Estes Park, Colorado for a long weekend in a cabin. We stayed at the same YMCA of the Rockies resort we had visited in August 2010. It was just much colder this time. The cabin was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"colorado\"","img":{"alt_text":"You want to see happy kids, take 'em sledding!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/DSC_2999-1024x678.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3801,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2015\/05\/diy-kitchen-transformation-partial-reveal.html","url_meta":{"origin":4068,"position":5},"title":"DIY Kitchen Transformation: A (Partial) Cabinet Reveal!","date":"24 May 15","format":false,"excerpt":"Today Dave put the doors back in their places in the kitchen, and also installed the new hardware. I am incredibly happy with how it turned out. Enjoy a \"before\" and \"after\" of one of one of the views.","rel":"","context":"In \"cabinets\"","img":{"alt_text":"A well-framed photo of the doors and drawers in place. There is still one drawer face missing, and I just barely cut if off.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/IMG_1657-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4068"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4068"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4076,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4068\/revisions\/4076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}