Things are moving right along in our new home.  Did you see the pantry doors that I shared yesterday?  I am beyond grateful with how that project turned out.  It’s exactly how I saw our pantries in my head when the architect drew up two pantries for our new kitchen.  Well…  today I get to share that our fireplace mantel in the living room is done.

This fireplace mantel has been a HUGE undertaking for a lot of people.  First off, if you missed the story on it, I originally shared it’s history and how it ended up in our possession in a post here. (It’s been through a tornado and a flood.)   I shared another post when it finally made it over to the house AFTER Deb and I worked on it for HOURS. (Deb more than me.)  It was in ROUGH shape.  The trimmers built small bases for each side to raise the mantel higher.  So obviously that was new wood.  They also added a new board to the top and to the sides.  And, it had lots of different types of patches because Deb had to repair it in several places.  We were completely against painting it again, because we really worked hard on removing the old layers of paint.  But, none of it matched.  So we had absolutely no clue what to do BESIDES cover it all up with a layer of paint.

After I shared the second post here on our website, I received this comment:

I love this mantle♥️.  Would it be possible to just faux paint the grey areas with a artist brush & diluted paints to blend in with the surrounding areas? Then just seal the mantle? It is absolutely beautiful the way it is now if you could just disguise the grey areas? Your home is fabulous. Karen

Well, Karen….  that is a FABULOUS idea!

(One I never thought of.)

BEFORE

AFTER

Fireplace Mantel in the Living Room

My brain went into a tailspin thinking of me having to try to figure out how to faux paint this fireplace mantel.  The new wood needed to match the old wood, and the gray patch spots needed wood grain.  I don’t have that much patience with so much going on right now.  But, I knew who to call.  Our friend, Joyce LOVES faux painting and does a phenomenal job.  She agreed to come and work on our fireplace mantel and faux paint all of those bad spots.

I watched her technique a bit and she has a true gift.  She matched a color of paint close the the actual wood color.  By adding different lighter and darker tones to it, she covered up all of those gray patch spots.  And then, using a smaller artist brush, she added wood grains to those areas and feathered it in to blend with the rest of the mantel.

Again, the top board on the mantel is a new board.  Joyce added different colors and layers of stain to the new wood on this fireplace mantel to blend with the old wood.  And then added some white paint to match the old white paint that we couldn’t remove when we stripped it. 

BEFORE

AFTER

I am still going to give this mantel a few coats of water-based sealer to protect it.  It won’t change the color at all.  But, I am LOVING how the faux painting of this 200 year old fireplace mantel turned out.  And can hardly believe it’s the same one. 

So, I would like to personally thank Joyce for taking care of this project for us.  I could haveNEVER done this.  And, I want to personally thank Karen for the wonderful suggestion.  I think it turned out perfect for our space and cannot wait to decorate for years to come.