Makeover - Creating a Hygge Log Filled Fireplace

February 20, 2017


In the grand scheme of this house project, this was just a small/micro DIY makeover but a makeover nonetheless and I really love the outcome it's given.

In our lounge, when we purchased the property there was a marble fireplace and log burner. It was quite pretty in parts but for us, it wasn't our style. Mainly though it was also in the wrong place for how we wanted to use the room, with the fire being too far away from the sofa layout we'd planned. By this point we'd had the other fireplace opened up and a new log burner installed on another wall in the lounge {full post on that here}.

So it wasn't needed at all and we wanted to remove it but had to wait for permission to {it's a listed property}. We'd had to buy it as an extra from the previous owners so I thought we should try and sell it rather than just remove it ourselves. I got in touch with a few antique fireplace dealers and before I knew it, a lovely old guy called Billy was here chipping away expertly removing it! 

B E F O R E 



Amazingly he managed to remove it all without damaging any of it. We were then left with the wall to patch in to smooth it all out. We thought about keeping the logburner as an extra heat source but felt more than warm enough with the radiators and new log-burner so we decided that there was no point in keeping it and we could create something more pretty instead. We decided on filling the opening with logs and getting a mantle shelf to go above it.  

D U R I N G 



Patching the wall up took the most amount of work because of the paintwork and lining paper already on the wall. Ben and his plasterer used a ready mixed plasterboard jointing compound to feather in the edges. It's designed to be sanded whereas regular plaster isn't. We waited for it to dry and then painted it the same colour as the rest of the wall.


We then had to find some extra skirting to match with the rest of the room as the marble pillars had covered this before. 


With the walls almost smooth, we painted the inside of the opening and then filled it with logs. 



We just used the logs that we had delivered for fires so they're all different shapes and not really designed. I have seen photos of all round logs cut to the same size though but I think any kind of logs will work. We weren't going for a particular look.


Next we found a pine mantle shelf from eBay which matches the other one we have in here almost identically. Ben primed and painted it and then we worked out the positioning and height on the wall.


We added some antlers to the wall above to stop it looking so plain. I have a few more smaller sets I was going to add for a big display but there are a lot of features in this room already so I didn't want to overcrowd it in here or clutter it up. I also didn't want to add any artwork that would take up too much room or a mirror as we have a mirror wall and a mirror above the other fireplace already. So antlers seemed like a good choice and I love the way they've come out. Ben was very nervous drilling through the skull to get them on the wall without a mount in case the whole thing shattered but luckily they survived! 

A F T E R 

Then it was just time to pretty it up a little with a couple of display items on the mantlepiece.




It's changed the whole feel of the room now and I love how it's turned out. So much lighter and brighter than the heavy pillared fireplace before. It's a feature I really like compared to the one I was always trying to avoid highlighting before. 



We may get a bit OCD and get round to changing all those logs for similar shaped ones in the future but for now it does the job look wise and is such an improvement on before. It was also an incredibly cheap, and quick makeover. 

If you have any questions let me know. 

R <3 xx 

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2 comments

  1. Hi Rebecca, love your mini makeover. Good find on the matching shelf. Do you recall where you got your glass cloche from? I've been searching for one and yours has got a nice rounded top to it x

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  2. Hi Rebecca, the fireplace looks amazing with those logs and I love your pine mantle shelf, did you buy it from an eBay shop?

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