Fireplace Wall Makeover

When we moved into this home, I knew instantly what I wanted for our family room wall. Built-in bookcases on either side of the fireplace. It only took me a year and a half to finally start the project. It took a ton of planning before I felt ready to take this on.  Before committing to an plan, I drew it up in Google Sketchup.  Here's where my idea started:

Up until this last month, this plan didn't even include updating the fireplace.  When we first moved in, the wall was dark brown, with nothing but rounded edged mantle, the same color as the wall.  When we had our fence replaced in the backyard, I held onto some of the wood and gave the wall a little character by adding some planks all the way up to the ceiling.  But it still looked to bare to me.
Once I got really serious about starting the bookcases on either side of the fireplace, I realized something: That I would really regret doing the bookcases if the fireplace was still ugly. I'd be creating more work for myself in the long run if I built those and wanted to change the tile or mantle down the road. So, ambition took over and I demoed the tile the next day.  Honestly, at that point I was a little nervous about pulling the whole project off. You see, I've never tiled before...

This is what it looked like when I started taking the wall tiles off the surround.  Definitely had to replace the drywall now too.  

The tileless fireplace.  Deep breath.  You can do this.

Guess where I have to go next?...or maybe I went before demo, I can't remember!

Here's kind of a before pic...less the tile.  Lots of bare wall on either side.  Tile was 12" square beige stone looking - not terrible, but definitely outdated.  

Here you can kind of see the old tile in the background.  You just have to look past my cute family. 

Here's how I gave the fireplace insert an uplift.  I used a roll of painting paper and taped everything off. Then I spray painted over it with a nice semi-gloss black. I actually started with a  heat resistant spray paint first (to be on the safe side), but it was too dull for my liking, so I put a couple more coats on with a regular semi-gloss spray paint. 

Tile and fireplace paint completed.  The tiling was the biggest challenge for me.  But for a first timer, I think it turned out ok.  I panicked a little the night I started tiling, because I wasn't so sure it was going to work.  I had a hard time getting tiles to stay in place, I only had a manual tile cutter (score/snap type) that didn't always make clean breaks, and the fireplace insert wasn't very flush with the drywall. 

Next came the mantle.  I decided to remove the existing wood top I had made and give it a fresh look, which would add contrast to the wood on the wall.  Measurements were the trickiest part.  I decided to build the columns and mantle out of mdf, since I knew I wanted to paint it.  I got lucky and found sheets of mdf at HD for 75% off!  I had HD rip the MDF for me so I could easily transport it home and it was a huge help to already have such long pieces cut to size.   I built the columns first so I could put them in place and measure how wide the mantle needed to be.  

The picture above is what my hubby came home to after being gone on a  business trip.  It was in it's original form before he left.  I never sent him pictures or told him of my progress, so he was quite surprised!  (Honestly, I was so worried about failing that I didn't want him to be worried about it as well)  But he knew I was up to something with the fireplace. 

Now for the bookcases.  I originally had planned to build all the bookcases from scratch, but ultimately I was intrigued to try a hack.  I found these $17 bookcases at Walmart and realized that two of them would fit almost perfectly on either side.   I raised the bookcases on a frame made of 2x3s, which allowed me to add baseboards on the bottom.  

I secured the cabinets to each other and to the wall.  (I had to add a piece of wood to the top inside of each cabinet so I could then anchor the cabinet to a stud).

I used 1x3s on each side of the cabinets (by the wall and between the cabinet and fireplace column) by attaching a 2x3 cleat to the side of the cabinet and nailing the trim piece to it.

Then I cut a top piece from more MDF, which was also tricky because the walls aren't straight! After a few coats of paint and silicone caulk, it was looking good! 

At last, I added doors.  This was a lengthy process, especially tedious in measuring.  Eight doors in all, framed with my kreg jig.  I used a decorative aluminum sheet for the inside of the door frame, mainly because I was concerned that our wifi equipment might overheat or experience signal loss if the doors were solid.  Maybe it would have been fine, but I kind of like the extra character anyway. 

No longer a boring wall.  Hit Hobby Lobby for a few decorative elements and now we have some more storage for the books that are still in boxes in our bedroom closet!