Fireplace + Shiplap – Before and After

There is something about shiplap fireplaces that call out to me!  I love the clean, crisp look that shiplap adds to a neutral wall.  Also, how shiplap can be used with so many different styles of home decor.  Okay, so how many women out there are begging their other half to magically become a construction guru along with a goofball personality, much like Chip Gaines?

“It’s easy,” I said, “we just get the wood and nail it to the walls.”  Right.  Good thing we had a little help in this DIY adventure.  I’ll take credit for being the brains, I come up with what I want to happen and discuss the image with kindergarten style drawings and Scott puts it on paper with numbers (engineering brain), then we call in reinforcements.  Thank you to a friend for helping us get the job done!

BEFORE

Here is our before.  My master plan was to change the look of the fireplace and make it a focal point of the home.  Also, shiplap a small wall that was just blah, to offset the fireplace.  Finally, I wanted to replace the mantel with a reclaimed piece of wood.  (On a side note, that fan had to come down).

DURING

I found a supplier on Craigslist from Columbia, SC that cut our mantel to size and delivered it to me in Charleston.  The antique heart pine is originally from American Tobacco Co in Durham, North Carolina.

Some people paint before putting the wood on the walls because it’s hard to get in the cracks.  We had to have our ceiling painted so we had the painters spray the shiplap.  Getting the mantel up was another task.  That piece of wood is super heavy, like takes two people to lift kind of heavy.  To mount, we had the option of buying a “floating mantel kit” from online for $100 or figuring it out on our own.  We were able to hang it with brackets from Lowe’s for $20 total and I love the industrial look those add.

AFTER

Notice in the first image, the black around the fireplace looks damaged.  That’s because we did cause damage when we took the original mantel off.  I was able to sand and repair it, then paint it black again.  We are still tossing around the idea of tile or brick, but for now, I like the black.

We also replaced all of the lights and fans in the home, I will share those later.  I was hestitant on having the TV above the mantel but it was the only place we could put it.  Maybe I can talk Scott into building one of those fancy boxes to cover it… stay tuned!

I love the way it turned out and it’s totally something an amateur can do.  This living room is still a work in progress and I can’t wait for it to be complete.  Is your home ever complete though?  By the time I finish these projects, I’ll probably find something else to change.  That’s the fun of home renovations!