Fireplace Make over

5 years and I finally updated my fireplace! This is one that I thought long and hard about. I hated the rock from 1964, the weird piece of drywall that came out from it and how it was all off center. Here is the best picture I can find from before we did anything to the house. This is from the walk through when we bought the house.

Here is a couple of pictures to show how we tried to spruce it up because I didn't feel like demoing the rock with all the other projects we had.

I knew I wanted a reclaimed wood wall. My first thought was to take out the drywall then frame out the rock and put the wood on top. Then, I thought about how I love mixing metal and wood. I add metal where ever I can in the house. So, I thought why not cover the rock with wood on the bottom and just frame out on the side. But, my husband was really excited about the idea of the easiest project in the house yet, so he suggested just cover the rock with the metal.


I got some good pallets from a friend and got right to work staining them with my home made stain of steal wool soaked in vinegar. But first apply black tea to make the stain work.

While Dr. C was away at a guys weekend, I covered the dry wall part of the wall.

Rusting the metal was not an easy task! I found some glue to glue it up with. Got some old pallets and made a home made stain for the wood. Picked out some tile for the hearth and got to work on a super simple make over. Here is the end result that I am very happy with.

I am so happy with the way it turned out. There is a little less rust then I was hoping for, but I still love it! Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention, it was super cheap! Probably the cheapest thing makeover of the whole house.

Kristen