Warm and Cozy Part I

Our last big project in the house (other than decorating, of course) is a fireplace facade. When the house was originally built, we think it had a wood stove in the hole in the wall you can see behind the antique mantel below. The owners could add wood to keep the house warm without going out in the cold, but the main stove was in the garage.

A new set of owners installed central heating and air and converted this hole into a television/VCR holder. We are no longer using the old tube TV the house came with, so we had two options: 1. Close up the hole, 2. Convert the hole into something different. We chose option two.

I toyed with the idea of having an actual fireplace, but my firefighter husband was skeptical, so the plan is an electric fireplace facade. Below is a picture of the antique mantel my hubby surprised me with on our second anniversary. 

I love this mantel. It's so unique.

Here's a picture of the mantel with the fireplace insert.

And here is the rock veneer we will soon have installed to create our "fireplace." 

We got "seconds" so it wasn't as expensive as it could have been. 

I can't wait to see the finished product!