Flea Market Faux Fireplace & Master Bedroom Update

I'm still plugging away on those last few projects in my master bedroom that I shared with you a few weeks back.  I've really been trying to tackle the last few rooms of my house this summer since it's just too hot to do much furniture painting outside and I'm really close to several rooms "done" (are rooms ever really done?).  Anyway, if you recall, I gave you a peek of a mantel in my bedroom...

I picked up this old, tattered mantel at the flea market in Raleigh a few months ago, knowing that I wanted to make a faux fireplace of sorts in my master bedroom.  I've always loved fireplaces in master bedrooms, but ours didn't have one.  I thought about buying an electric fireplace and building a mantel around it, but since I'm rarely cold since moving to NC and on a tight budget, I thought I'd try a different approach...

Since the mantel literally had huge chunks of old flaking paint (which I assumed was lead-based), I donned my respirator and carefully stripped, scraped, and sanded it down.  After cleaning it up, I applied a few coats of ASCP Old White without wax.  It's a pretty rough old mantel with cracks and nail holes, but I left most of those and went for the rustic, shabby look. 



After attaching it to the wall, I then painted the inside with black chalkboard paint and had my super-talented step-dad help draw a fireplace chalk illustration...

Talented, isn't he?  If you don't have handy artist around, I'm sure you could get this look with an image of fireplace logs and an over-head projector to provide a template to trace onto your chalkboard paint.  I've got one more of those $20 thrift store chairs in the above picture that I'm working on re-upholstering this week and then I can share the whole room with you! I'm excited to have it all done...

Sources:  mantel - flea market, chair - Goodwill, rug - Home Decorators, flower canvas prints - Ikea, mercury glass candles an mantel accessories - TJ Maxx, wall paint - Martha Stewart's Spring Melt

Kristen



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