Tips for upgrading your old fireplace

To buy a home with character or at a good price, you have to buy an older home. But sometimes those home have things in them you need to find a way to decorate around or cover up to make it look more appealing. For example, you can use baseboard heater covers to make those heaters appear as though they blend in with the wall, and you can remodel your fireplace to make it look more modern. Here are some tips for upgrading your old fireplace.

Start with the bricks

Old fireplaces often have ugly bricks or bricks that are falling apart. One thing you can do here is either remove the old bricks and put new ones in or paint over them to give it a modern fireplace look. It is a lot more work to replace all the bricks and may even require extensive remodeling capabilities to get all the old stuff off the fireplace. But it can give your home a very traditional feel and will look very nice when all is said and done. Paint is a much easier way to do it, but it does give a more modern feel to the room. An alternative to brick and paint is to go with a nice stone finish.

How to pick the right stone

If you would like to use stone on your fireplace, make sure you look at samples in a showroom before you buy it. Stone can be very messy and may not work out as nicely as you have pictured in your head, so it is important that you see an example before diving in. You can actually do the stone right over the brick if you don’t want to tear it out, though you’d definitely want to use a metal stick to fasten the stone to the fireplace rather than just mortar. The other thing to remember is that stone is much heavier than brick. You will need to install a steel angle iron under the stone to hold up all the weight and protect your floor from damage.

Is it safe?

Some people choose to turn their real fireplaces into gas ones to keep it safe and prevent themselves from ever having to light a fire in their home. This can be very expensive and difficult. If you choose to use the fireplace as-is, make sure you have it inspected to ensure it is safe to use, and keep a gate in front of it to keep little children from climbing into the fire.

Picking a mantle

One of the best ways to decorate your fireplace and give your whole room a new look is to pick the right mantle to go over your fireplace. With a mantle, you are able to change out the decorations for every holiday or event. If you have the space in your room or if the fireplace comes out a bit from the wall, you’ll want a shelf that is deeper in order to be able to put more stuff on it. But a fireplace that is flesh with the wall will want a very small shelf to keep it from sticking into the room and giving the appearance of a smaller space.

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