A Much Needed Face Lift

Since moving into our house, I have wanted to update our fireplace. The pink tile matched our pink carpet. Yuck. Below is the only picture I have of our pink carpet because only weeks after moving in, our house got broken into and our Wii and laptop were stolen, along with all my pictures of our house. Lesson learned: when you buy a new house, change the locks.

You can see a tiny peek of the matching tile. Which you wouldn't see unless you are looking because it matches exactly.

Here is another shot of the fireplace after we ripped out the carpet:

The red tile and the bronze cover weren't doing it for me either. Our first plan was to replace the tile "someday," but I ran across a blog post about painting fireplace tile (check it out here). The bloggers claimed the paint held up well, and their before and after pictures were amazing. So, I decided it was worth a shot. It was way less money, time, and energy. I had nothing to lose really.

So I snapped a few more recent before shots...

... and got to painting. I couldn't be more pleased. It brightens up the whole room and makes it look so fresh and so clean.

  

Yes, I was watching the Olympics. Go Team USA! Hopefully soon, I will clean the living room enough to get a larger view.  But all-in-all, I am stoked about the transformation. Yes, I said stoked.

And because I couldn't resist.