Project Mantle: Budget Breakdown

Um, I wrote this post forever ago...but then we went to Italy and got pregnant. Yay for finally getting it up.

Well, since there was such an overwhelming response to our little mantle project, {seriously, thanks you guys! I love the affirmation}I thought I would do a handy dandy budget breakdown, much like I did for my refinished cabinet a while back.

It is seriously surprising the impact you can make for a teensy bit of money and some elbow grease...and in our case, a good amount of blood, sweat and tears that always comes with home improvement.


Wood...............................$25 (we bought a bunch extra, just in case)
Saw (borrowed)................$0
Caulk/Glue .......................$6
Paint for brick/
inside of fireplace/
woodwork....................... $36
Total cost........................ $67

To go from this:

to this:

More projects coming soon.

Yay for being back to blogging!

Our Navy Bungalow: Fireplace Project

Welcome to this episode of "Our Navy Bungalow". (Just go with it).

When we moved in, the fireplace side of our living room looked like this:

{If you remember from this post, this is not our stuff. 

Except Dennis. He was our Realtor.}

After a few days in the house, I spent a few hours and a few brain cells applying 10 coats of chemical stripper and tons of elbow grease to remove 13 coats of paint on that mantle. When Austin came home, I made him stain it. Then one day I couldn't stand looking at that flat, gross, red color of the bricks and I painted it. 

I know! I know! Sacrilege. Anywho, it came out like this:

It still wasn't my favorite, but it was so much better.

Then, we painted the living room blue.

The fireplace still plagued me. The proportions were just so off. So, I designed a project.

Project code name: Mantle

Some of this...

A little of this...

And a little more, there...

and a fresh coat of paint on the bookshelves....

drum roll, please...

and we have, our new and improved...

After

{feel free to click on these for larger photos}

Le sigh. I love it so much more. What do you guys think?

Just for fun, one more Before and After side by side.