Mantel Update / Transforming a 90's Fireplace

We had two sides of the family over the other day. My brother was over and 

Bill's sister and her boys were here too.

My husband made the comment that he didn't think the living room was comfortable because he and his sister ended up sitting in the kitchen.
I was feeling dissatisfied with the living room after my reveal last week. It just doesn't wow me anymore. 

I tried to think through what the issues could be.

Dave was watching the game and was stretched out on the couch.

 The T.V. in here is really pretty small and there were not any lights on so he could see the T.V.  It is housed in an antique armoire.  Bill thinks that is the issue. He thinks the armoire is outdated.

 I really don't think that his sister was repelled from the living room because of a piece of furniture we have had since the 80's. 

One of the issues I have with the room is the huge brick fireplace.
I have seen all the cute pins and blog posts about mantels.
Frankly, I was sick of mine.
When we moved in, I loved it. 
Our first house didn't have a fireplace. Our second house didn't have a mantel for the first year or so.
Our third house had a 70's mantel that was painted white.
This mantel was perfect for 1990!
I loved hanging the stockings at Christmas. I love having the kids pose for pictures in front of it.
I loved draping it with garland.

But I had fallen out of  love with it.
It was a big, boring sea of brown.
I felt many times that we lucked out in getting tan brick instead of red. Many houses on the street have red brick. The tan is a little more neutral. I was also happy that we didn't have the brass and glass insert with the doors like some of the other 90's homes.

I have tried to photograph the fireplace many times and got very few usable shots. 

I thought it was hard to photograph because it is on window wall and that the sun made the grout lines look like a checkerboard or something. All my pictures were blurry.
It has been frustrating.

This room has changed over the years. It used to be very sunny and almost too hot. 

The neighbor's tree in the back and my trees in the front are providing tons of shade. I have never lived in a house this long, so I haven't seen the evolution of light as trees mature.

To me it looked like a typical 90's fireplace that needed to be updated. 
I have been wanting to paint the mantel since I took pictures of it this past spring.

I never suggested painting the mantel or the brick because I never thought he would go for it in a million years.
Bill is a huge fan of craftsman design and he loves old oak.

Since he was lamenting about the living room I mentioned that I thought the hearth was the issue.... and that we need to think about updating it. First I mentioned dry walling over it.
When that didn't get a thrilled response I casually mentioned painting it. Now... it sounds like I was trying to manipulate the situation but I wasn't. I was genuinely trying to figure out a solution. 
He said yes he thought we should try paint. (Paint is way easier than dry wall.)

I am never one to look a gift horse in the mouth so I proceeded to break out the primer and paint the very next morning.  

Source

I  slapped the primer on and thought it needed more. 
It needed columns under the mantel to beef up the sides and provide a pallet for more white.

I went out to the stash of wood in the garage just to see what might work.
I grabbed a leftover piece of a 2x4 and low and behold two in a L configuration fit perfectly over the brick edge of the fire box. :)

I screwed them together. 
This is where the drill driver becomes important. 
Learning the forward and backward motion as well as inserting the drill bits and the screwdriver is key. 
I used 2 2x4's to make the columns. Bill said they were about $5.00 each. 

 I'd like to tell you that I knew exactly what I was going to do at this point to finish this.

 I thought about stacking two by fours and attaching them to the brick. I would have had to research masonry bits to do that. I finally figured out that I could just attach the back to each side. I had an old shelf from the Creepy Doll Room (here) 

for the back. I cut and ripped another board and attached it to each side to make the back of the surround. (The second board was supposed to be used for my laundry room make over.)

Read about it here.

I went to Home Depot and got some fluted molding to cover up the seams. 

 The molding in the center was just some casing that looked like crown molding. It was easier to work with than crown. The total for the trim was under $40.00. Trimming it out was easy, because I didn't have to miter anything.

 The surround fits snug under the mantel so I didn't even have to attach it to the brick. I don't know how to drill into brick at all!
I wanted to finish this while he was at work, so that if it didn't look good I could just shove it in the garage. Plus I didn't want to over engineer this thing. Did I just imply that Mr. Bill might 
over-think some stuff?? Take it as you will...

Slipping a sale ad behind the mantel and columns prevents paint on the brick. This would be very hard to tape. 

I primed it as soon as I was finished and sat and enjoyed it just primed. 

I'm hoping that by lightening up a big, brick feature that I am warming up the space.

Primed and painted and back with cute accessories.

  I know that in the paragraph it takes to write this, I

make it seem that this was super easy. It was a pain. The screws I used were horrible and worthless. Tip? Use good screws! 

When I went to fit it, it was a hair too wide. (I did measure, several times.) When I went to adjust the width of the back, the screws stripped and nearly caused me to scream because I couldn't get them out. Maybe I did scream.

I finally came up with two methods. Tape inside the stripped screw head or drill tiny holes all around the stripped screw until you can pry it out.

 

 It was 110 yesterday. By the time I was finished I was so hot and sooo crabby!

But I am so in love with it. 
I have always wanted a white traditional style mantel.

The new fireplace surround makes a huge difference in the look of the mantel. 

Before:

After: 

When Bill got home tonight from Bible Study, he stood in the
kitchen and said, "I don't think we can paint the mantel." 
Opps!!
Too late. 
He came in and saw it and he said, "I am not worthy." 
:)

Sprinkled with construction dust,
Katie
Linking with,
Funky Junk Interiors
Feathered Nest Friday 
The Brambleberry Cottage 
Common Ground 
Between Naps on the Porch 
Debbie Doos 
Savvy Southern Style 
Lavender Garden Cottage
Faded Charm

Dumpster Divine Chair Edition

Twice recently I have been driving around and found chairs out by the trash. Okay technically they were not in the dumpster as the title of this post suggests and I have really only pulled something out of a dumpster once in all my trash picking days.

But, I thought these two chairs had potential and hey they were free.

I was picking up some orb spray paint during my deblingificationpalooza when I saw this can of primer. I loved the color on the cap and it reminded me of the finishes I have been seeing on the blogs done with Annie Sloan's chalk paint. A primer, it seemed to me, would definitely have a chalky mat finish that I was after.

I also don't have a lot of time with teaching and blogging. 

Spray painting them seemed to fit the bill.

I gave each of the chairs a coat or two.

This one was missing a seat, so I cut one out of plywood. I turned the chair upside down and traced it.

  BilI's Jig saw did a nice job. 

One morning I saw that Mr. Bill had thrown out the old cushion from one of the patio chairs. I rescued it from the trash. Dumpster diving in my own yard! 

Foam is costly and I will recycle it whenever I can. 

 I used some drop cloths to cover both seats.

Drop cloths are everywhere these days.

Recovering dining room chairs is one of the easiest home improvements. It isn't hard, but you do need a staple gun. 

 I also did this old bird cage that I almost 
sent to the thrift. Until... I saw something nearly identical at Canton. The new one at Canton was $30.00, this was free!

 One of my darling students gave me this cactus for an end of school year gift. It's so unusual and beautiful.

I love the pop of blue/gray in these chairs.  It is a good counter point to my purples, browns and creams. 

 I'm smitten with the cane. It painted up beautifully.
There is something about painted cane that speaks to me for some reason. 

All in all I am please with this work horse can of paint and primer. I have tried another one and it didn't work quite as well. I'm not really sure where these will end up in the house. Mr. Bill thinks I have a chair rescuing/hording problem. 
But I just can't stand to see good chairs end up in the land fill. 
At least I don't bring home stray cats. 

Sprinkled with freebies,
Katie 
Linking with,
French Country Cottage 
The Brambleberry Cottage

=

Casual Friday

Casual Friday by katieny featuring ballerina shoes

Oversized shirt
sheinside.com

Oasis ripped jeans
$75 - oasis-stores.com

Ballerina shoes
$105 - witchery.com.au

Salad Dressing in a Cake

This weekend we are celebrating my sister-in- law’s birthday out at her lake house.

I am charged with bringing her favorite cake.

Slightly off topic but bear with me, 

 I will confess every once in a while I eat Spaghetti -o's. It is one of those foods that brings me back to my childhood. It makes no sense and I am ashamed to admit it, but every once in a while I just need a spoonful of my childhood. 

I say this because when I got the recipe for this cake I thought that a little of this might be in play here.

The cake is called Salad Dressing Cake and 

it has Miracle Whip in it. I have had this cake at family gatherings before, but I had no idea it had a secret ingredient.

I received the recipe this morning and immediately started doing research. 

Miracle Whip came into production in 1933 and was introduced at the Chicago World's Fair. In a short 22 weeks of advertising it overtook sales of other mayonnaise brands and dressings. The whipping process was a major innovation.

It's success could be due to the economic times of the thirties. It was cheaper than mayonnaise but had the same texture. 

Mayonnaise was a popular substitution in baking during WWII because of egg rationing. I guess if your family was a Miracle Whip family, your grandma used that instead.

I read a blog this morning about Salad Dressing cakes.

The blogger reasoned that eggs, oil and vinegar are present in both Miracle Whip and in a cake. I agree. An oil and egg substitute is a great idea, until I read the label on my jar of salad dressing. I usually don't put dry mustard, paprika and garlic in my cakes! But Miracle Whip does have that tangy zip and a tang is evident in many buttermilk cakes.

 I am skeptical and think that the love for this cake is partially food memory driven.  

We will see.

It is not about me, so I am 

baking the cake for my dear Sis-in-law.

Here is the recipe.

Salad Dressing Cake

2 C. flour
1 C. sugar
1 1/2 teas. baking soda
1 1/2 teas. baking powder
4 Tab. cocoa

Mix above dry ingredients, then add:

1 C. cold water,
1 C. miracle whip (not light)
2 teas. vanilla

Mix well. Bake 20-25 min. at 350.


Fudge Icing

2 C. sugar
1/2 C. milk
1 stick butter
1 Tab. Karo
2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate, melted

This cake was easy to put together. 

The ingredients are also readily on hand. The 25 minute baking time is a bonus.
The cake came out perfectly.

The fudge icing needs to be poured on the cake immediately. 
Other wise it will harden and look a little imperfect. (Just like mine)

 Here are a couple of tips.

I found out after the cake came out successfully that the frosting can be somewhat of a bear. I'm sure it has something to do with melting the sugar. 
Don't turn on the burner until you have all the ingredients in the sauce pan. Stir the mixture constantly until it reaches that soft boil stage. I kept the cold water next to me and checked the fudge frequently.

To me this cake was best after sitting for a day. 
It was moist and rich. 
So, food memory driven or not it was a yummy cake!
It made a perfect breakfast the next morning.
 ;)
If you can't get past the idea that your cake has the tangy zip of Miracle Whip, try this icing on your favorite cake. It is amazing!

Sprinkled with Miracle Whip,
Katie 
P.S. This is a preview of the kitchen at the lake I always talk about.
Amy my Sis-in-Law has been collecting the cutest stuff for it.
Happy Birthday, Amy!!
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia 
Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style