Fireplace Makeover 2.0

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Our fireplace has looked like this for the last several years! And while I LOVED the look, it was actually just brick paneling, not real brick, so honestly, I’m not 100% sure how fire-resistant it really was. That said, we have a gas fireplace and never had any issues. Still, this setup was always meant to be temporary.

The plan is to make the fireplace match my stone backsplash in the kitchen. The problem? Floor & Decor doesn’t even carry that stone anymore, the same one I originally used, so I thought I was completely stuck.

Enter my new friend Edwin, who runs Baxter Boulders. He reached out and told me about these rock walls he creates, you can see some of his creations here on his Facebook page! I showed him photos of my backsplash and asked if there was any way to recreate it…and he said YES!

Edwin showed me exactly how to achieve this look, and once I saw the process, I felt confident I could tackle it myself, so it was time to get to work! If his rock walls are something you’d like to learn how to create as well, he does offer a course on his website that is very helpful in showing exactly how to do it!

First step: clearing everything off the fireplace and ripping out the fake brick paneling.

Not gonna lie, I was a little sad to see it go… that original project was actually my very first time ever doing demo!

It was actually way easier to take down than I expected! Most of it came off pretty easily, but a few pieces were screwed in and then covered with joint compound (of course 🙃), so those just had to be ripped out. But I got it all off and now we have a fresh slate!

I’m not removing the mantle or the brick from the hearth because it’s screwed really well into the frame I built, so honestly it’s just going to help make everything even stronger. When I built this, I made sure it was solid enough to stand on with no issues, and that’s coming in handy now.

I got everything prepped and ready for when Tyler got home, his job was to add the metal mesh stuff. He screwed it into the studs so we’d have a solid surface to apply the mortar to later, and it would all stay nice and secure.

This way, we didn’t have to rip out the drywall and replace it with cement board to hold the weight and make sure it would adhere…which I was very happy about.

I’m adding painter’s tape and trash bags to the mantle to protect it from the mortar, because I’d really prefer not to ruin it in the process.

And now we’re ready to get dirty! 🙌

Here’s what the metal looks like up close, it doesn’t have to be perfectly flat for this look, so don’t overthink it.

Then Tyler got to work mixing up the mortar. This mixer we found on Amazon and it is affordable and works amazing! We’re just using a gray mortar since the stone in the kitchen is mostly gray anyway.

Then he brought it in so I could start slapping it on the wall! For the first coat, I’m just focused on covering the mesh and pressing it flat onto the surface. I’m using a drywall knife and those medical gloves we buy on Amazon for this. And instead of trying to wrestle a full 5-gallon bucket, I’m using a small pitcher for smaller batches and just refilling it as needed.

While I was working on that, Tyler was busy covering the floor with more plastic.

This definitely took longer than I expected, but I got it done! Tyler helped get it spread over the hearth. 💪

We took the trash bags off the mantel so they wouldn’t dry under the mortar and be stuck forever.

And that wraps up day one. I know it’s looking pretty scary right now, but trust the process!

The next morning, I covered the mantel again with fresh trash bags and painter’s tape while Tyler mixed up another batch of mortar for me. Once he brought it in, I started applying it over the dried layer.

Before adding the new mortar, you have to spray the dry layer with water, this helps it bond properly and keeps the dry mortar from sucking all the moisture out of the fresh mix (which can make it dry too fast and crack). So we kept a few water bottles nearby, and as I worked, I sprayed the wall and started building out the “rocks” with my gloved hands as I went.

This small section took me way longer than expected, so I recruited Mia to help, mostly so the mortar in the bucket didn’t dry out while I was still building out the rocks. She was not exactly thrilled about it and got a little frustrated when it wasn’t sticking very well.

The trick is you really have to slap the mortar onto the wall and hold it there for a minute to let it grab before you start shaping it into the rock look you want.

Then my neighbor, Shane, stopped by to check out the progress and ended up taking over for Mia. He actually enjoys this kind of stuff and is always super helpful!

Even Shane’s sister, Shannon, came by to help! She’s actually an artist and loves to paint, so this was right up her alley.

It was looking pretty cool at this point! We even toyed with the idea of leaving it in more of a wave shape, kind of artsy and organic. But in the end, I knew I wanted it to look more traditional to match my kitchen.

This was about half a 5 gallon bucket worth of mortar at this point, Tyler went to mix me some more.

Once all three of us were working, things finally started moving a little faster! We kept switching places so the stones would all look a bit different next to each other, because mine looked different than Shane’s, and his looked different than Shannon’s.

We used a bunch of different things to create texture on the “rocks.” I had a rag that I got a little damp the day before, added some mortar to it, and let it dry, then when you dab it onto the fresh mortar, it creates a really nice texture. We also used putty knives to shape the stones so they weren’t just round, along with a few random tools we had lying around that we didn’t mind ruining. We made some of the stones bigger and some smaller.

Shane and Shannon took a break, and Tyler tried to jump in, but let’s just say…he’s not exactly the artistic type 😂 His “rocks” were looking more like blobs. So I sent him away to just be the official mortar mixer.

I was pretty much going nonstop because I was determined to get this done! At one point, Tyler had to run to Home Depot for more mortar, and Shane and Shannon even came back after lunch to keep helping.

Thank God for them! This part definitely would’ve turned into a two or three-day project without their help!

Right about here is where I was ready to call it quits for the day. I was exhausted, my back was hurting, and I was mentally drained.

But Tyler said he’d mix up one more batch and at least help get his “blobs” onto the hearth… and I could come behind him and shape them so we could just knock it all out.

You can see below that I wrapped some of the stones around the edges of the hearth. You definitely don’t have to do it this way, but I liked the look, and it also helps make the stones feel a little thicker and more dimensional.

I started this around 10am and didn’t finish until close to midnight, but we got all the faux rocks formed!! 💪 So thankful for great friends and an awesome mortar mixer! 🤪

Here’s where we left off for the night, and again, this is definitely another trust the process moment! I know it looks a little…questionable right now, and I’m sure some people will still say it looks “outdated” even when it’s done. But I’m calling it traditional…maybe even vintage cottage traditional? We’ll go with that. 😄

Here’s what it looked like the next morning once everything was mostly dry.

Now the next step is getting the stones the right color. As you can see in the photo below, my kitchen backsplash has a mix of darker grays and some rust tones in it.

But first, for the third time, I taped everything back off and put the trash bags back over the mantel. 😅

Once the mantel was protected, I mixed up some grout with a rust-colored concrete stain (the actual color is called Buff) and started rubbing it onto the stones randomly.

The color was super bright, so I didn’t want too much of that color. After rubbing that on randomly, I mixed some more of the rust-colored stain with water and went over other stones randomly in other areas.

When I went back and looked at my kitchen backsplash for reference, I noticed a lot of darker gray tones. So I grabbed some black acrylic paint from my craft closet, mixed it with water, and went over random stones to add that color in too. I wasn’t totally sure how the acrylic paint would work, but it ended up being perfect!

Once Tyler got home, it was time to grout, but first, he went over all the stones with a rough brush to knock off any loose pieces. Then we cleaned everything up, which was really just a bunch of tiny little crumbs.

Then he mixed up the grout. You can use premixed grout, but it’s more expensive for less product, so it’s way cheaper to just mix it yourself. Plus, you can make it a little thinner, which makes it much easier to squeeze out of the grout bag.

We’re using the color Avalanche by Mapei, same one as my kitchen backsplash so everything ties together nicely.

I tried squeezing the grout out myself, but it was still pretty thick and so hard to get out of the bag. I quickly realized there was no way I was finishing this on my own. 😅

Plus, once you squeeze it in, you have to let it sit for a few minutes and then go back in to flatten it between the rocks using a gloved hand and a wet sponge, so it’s definitely a two-person job at that point. Especially for this big of an area and the grout doesn’t take long to start hardening!

So Tyler stepped in and handled the squeezing while I went back over everything with gloves and a wet sponge. This worked way better, and he was super fast! This is how far we got with the first batch of grout he mixed.

Then our pizza showed up, and of course he had to church it up by adding some leftover brisket to his meat lovers pizza. He was sprinkling it on like Salt Bae 😂

Then it was back to work! This part actually went super fast, way faster than I expected. I think it only took about an hour or so, if I’m remembering right, minus the pizza eating time.

Then we removed the trash bags from the mantel (for the third time 😅) and moved on to grouting the hearth.

Then it was finally done, and time to clean up! There was grout residue everywhere on the floors.

Luckily, these aren’t real wood floors, they’re more of an MDF with a shiny wood finish, so they’re super durable and really easy to clean. We didn’t install them (shoutout to the previous homeowners), but they made a great choice! My Tineco mop vacuum picked up all the grout residue with no problem at all.

Then Tyler had to turn on the fireplace so we could actually get a good photo of all that hard work!

So just as a reminder, this is what the fireplace looked like when we first moved in, and then after I painted those ugly yellow-beige tiles white. They weren’t even the same tone as the main floor tile… they were way more yellow and definitely not my style. I actually just used regular wall primer and paint on these, this was one of the first DIY’s I did in this house.