Fabulous DIY Fireplace Remodel at the Itsy Bitsy Cottage

Labor Of Love

It’s hard to believe our remodeling rollercoaster started with a DIY fireplace remodel!  And although the cottage is small the project ride never seems to end. The great room was one of the reason why we bought this cottage.  It’s open space and vaulted ceiling gives the illusion that the space is so much larger than it is.  Come on inside and see what we started with. 

Drinks On The Dock

Weekends are not complete without our cocktails! Carried throughout the cottage are the wood tones. The Gray Street Server was the perfect storage solution. It has a durable concrete inlay top that can take a beating and any kind of spill washes right up. The weathered gray wood adds to that rustic charm we love.  Not only does it store our bar, entertaining items and large serving platters, it houses all our games and fishing tackle. After all we, have no Wi-Fi, no cable and virtually no TV or radio reception… And that’s OK. It’s good to unplug every once in a while. 

A DIY Fireplace Remodel

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the pot belly cast iron stove sat in the middle of room and was not up to code. I knew that I did not want anything to protrude into the room taking up all the valuable real estate so we decided on a gas fireplace insert. Here’s the progression of the fireplace remodel:

Fabulous Finds

I found these great shelves at HomeGoods for $29.99 over the winter.   My carpenter mentioned that if I was to go to a mill shop they would be over $100 each. They were black originally and were too heavy looking so I gave them a whitewash with a coat of white paint. Making sure that the black showed through a bit. They would serves as the fireplace corbels. We would use the reclaimed floorboards as the mantle and I purchased pebble stones sheets from Home Depot for the fireplace surround.

The pebble tile around the fireplace along with the kitchen tile were to be my first stab at any sort of tile work.  Continuing to accent with wooden elements I found a gorgeous mirror also HomeGoods to add above the mantle and bounce light back into the room. Although the fireplace is rarely turned on, just in the Spring and the Fall to cut the cold chill it still seems to be a focal point of the cottage. Next up the kitchen! Thanks so much for following along! xoxo Amie

BEFORE