The bad news is I busted my bootie last week to prep the basement for a game day party that was suppose to happen at our house this past Saturday, but……..our beloved Cats lost on Friday night. So there was no Saturday game. I’m still in shock. Add to that yesterday was Selection Sunday, and we didn’t get into the NCAA tournament. Instead of March Madness it’s going to be March Sadness. But enough college basketball talk……….
the good news is I finally completed a project that I started over a year ago!
Unfortunately, I never got a good before picture of the fireplace in our basement. We love having a fireplace down there. It makes movie watching super cozy, especially during the winter. We weren’t, however, very thrilled with the hunter green marble surround. It wasn’t a good marble – you’ll just have to trust me on that – and it made the fireplace look really dated. I didn’t want to invest the money in a new surround – at least I’m not ready to do that right now – while I still have whole bathrooms that need to be renovated. So I needed an inexpensive update. What’s better on the ol’ budget than paint?!
Armed with inspiration from The Nester,
I “re-bricked” this fireplace.
It was pretty simple. I just primed it with the stinky stuff – Zinnser, and then painted 2 coats of chalkboard paint. Then I used a chalk pen to draw some bricks. I’m going for a whimsical-meets-chic look (whatever that means) in the basement, so this chalkboard brick fireplace fits right in. I didn’t stop at the surround; I bricked the whole darn thing!
Nate Berkus made this red mirror just for me, so I bought 4 as a thank you. They really make a statement hung as a group over the mantel. The middle section was just begging me to scrawl a little something – so “hello” for now – but who knows what it’ll say later?
So if a sad moment has a silver lining – this it it. The party never happened -but my basement looks a bagillion times better than it did a week ago. And the Cats will be back next year – make no mistake about that!
And now to ponder the truly important things in life, I wonder when I’ll tire of chalkboard paint?
*Sharing with Home Stories A to Z, Savvy Southern Style
I feel your pain about our CATS, but your fireplace looks amazing. I love that you bricked it all the way up. The red mirrors are so perfect! I am a chalkboard paint lover myself. I've got a little project I've been pondering. I think you may have inspired me to stop procrastinating.