Inspiration for the Mantel

There's a big project brewing over here and I can't wait to share it with you! If you remember a few weeks ago, I showed you how to DIY a White Wash Fireplace. That fireplace is going to be getting a makeover soon!

Right now there is just brick surrounding the fireplace. It looks very plain and I've always loved a good mantel. So we're going to build one. This will be our first big project... ever! I'm so nervous, terrified, and excited at the same time!

My main inspiration comes from Sarah at Thrifty Décor Chick. She actually had her fireplace moved in her home and built a fabulous mantel with surrounding cabinets. I plan on building something very similar to what she has.

Totally gorgeous!

I also love that planked wall on top and she has a full tutorial on that here. I plan on doing this exact same thing with ours. Notice she actually has her TV built right into that planked wall and that's totally a genius idea. Not having any cords showing gives it a nice crisp look.

Another inspiration for the mantel is this gorgeous one.

I love the clean lines. It's simple yet beautiful at the same time. You could really paint this any color you'd like. I have a dark gray couch in the living room so I think I'll stick with white but maybe down the road I'll have some fun and paint it a shade of gray. But then again, I am loving gray right now so who knows!

Kate's fireplace over at Centsational Girl is stunning. Elegant, romantic and subtle.

I think you can see where I'm going with my inspiration but I want to give you a few more looks just incase you're ready for a change!

Carmel at Our Fifth House did an amazing Chalkboard Brick Fireplace Makeover. It would have never crossed my mind to do this!

Young House Love is a great blog and I'm super sad that they stopped blogging about 6 months ago. However, they have 7 years of house DIY tutorials still up and this fireplace redo is one of them.

There are so many options when it comes to a fireplace. You can gut it completely and design it exactly how you'd like. Or you can work with what you have but still make it fit your own style. You can paint brick, tile, or use chalkboard paint! The possibilities are endless.

Wish us luck! This project will probably take a few months to complete with little kids running around but I'm excited to get started.