The day our fireplace went in, I knew I’d made a mistake.

After much deliberation (and if you know me well, you know I’m referring to stressed out, back and forth, franticly researched decision making) we paid extra to put a “doghouse” out the side of the house so that the fireplace didn’t stick too far into the room… On the initial plan, the hearth came into the room by 3.5 feet, and I was afraid to lose that square footage. Unfortunately, I assumed (we all know what happens when you do that) that the fireplace would still come into the room a few inches.

No. Such. Luck. It is nearly flush with the wall.  So the big, grand fireplace in my mind materialized as a puny, flat, entirely too rustic being that doesn’t fit with my vision for this room.

In addition to the doghouse mistake, which I fully own, we chose a dry stack installation of natural stone, but there was clearly mortar in between each piece. The sub our builder used came back out and “dry stacked” it, but it has never looked quite right.

Tear It Out?

After two and a half years, I keep thinking it will grow on me, but the opposite has happened. I now want to tear the entire thing out and surround it with a more modern marble tile. Adam, however, is NOT a fan of this plan. First of all, he loves a more rustic look, where I tend to gravitate to light and airy modern décor with pops of color. Secondly, he thinks we should get more than two years of use out of the fireplace surround we already paid for, before we start spending money on a new one. I guess I see his point. 😉

New Plan

So I have been gradually formulating a plan to incorporate a grander look into the living room. Unfortunately, my plan keeps growing, and I’m pretty sure it is now WAY beyond the scope of my abilities.

I’ve always known I eventually wanted to do built ins on either side of the fireplace, which is why we centered the fireplace on the wall, instead of doing the angled corner fireplace originally in our floorpan. BUT we don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on them right now. So my short term plan was to do some “Ikea Billy built ins,” inspired by this fabulous post by Centsational Girl. Seeing as I’ve never used a miter saw before, I assume this will be a fun (is that the right word?) challenge.

The Plan Grows

A brilliant idea struck me to add some wood around the fireplace, minimizing the stone, and also creating a grander look. I picture columns and a thick wood mantle. Something along these lines, only with a more shaker style trim to match our kitchen cabinetry:

Why not add some wood trim ABOVE the fireplace to create a sort of recessed nook for our television? It has forever irked me (or at least since we moved in) that the center point of my living room is a blah fireplace and an ugly TV. Maybe if the TV sits back into the wall, it won’t bother me so much?

DIY Possible?

Now I’m wondering if I can pull the Billy built ins together with the mantle to make everything look truly built in. And maybe stack the Billy bookcases on top of some shelves to give some hidden storage. Or just build built ins from scratch…

Does anyone else think I’m getting in over my head?