Like sticks and stones, fire seems to of been around forever well at least it has been in our lifetimes. If you are one of the lucky ones and have the luxury of enjoying a wood burning or gas burning fireplace in your home you might be experiencing not only the beauty of the fire but the dated outer shell of the fireplace itself. To rip out a complete fireplace and replace it will cost you a small fortune but if you do some research you will see how you can make inexpensive fireplace makeovers a possibility. If the inside body of your fireplace is in good shape then as the old saying goes if it aint broke dont fix it is very true and will save you a ton of money. There are a number of things you can do to spruce up your fireplace, give it a fireplace makeover would be a better term for what you can do to save money.
If the inner parts of your fireplace work fine then there is no need to change any of the fireplace guts. The cheapest fireplace makeover is always going to be when you can just work on updating the outside of the fireplace. Things like the hearth or the mantle or maybe the legs and header which is located under the mantle.
Mantle makeover ideas
Your fireplace mantle is one of the main focal points of your fireplace. Most mantles are used by the home owner to exhibit fine art, pottery or some form of knick knack that says, hey! look at me and look at what the owner of this home is interested in. A fireplace Mantle is the shelf like looking piece that sits front and center above your actual fireplace. Big bold wood mantle were all the rage years ago and have started to make a comeback. The quickest and most inexpensive way to give your mantle a makeover would be to paint it if it is wood. You can also find cheaper tiles to tile the mantle. Another option is to pull the mantle off the wall and paint or tile the wall for a very clean and modern look.
– Along with the mantle is the header which sits right underneath the mantle flat against the fireplace wall and then the legs that run down either side of the fireplace. You can easily paint or tile the header and legs of the fireplace.
Hearth makeover ideas
The hearth can be a large area depending on how it was built or you might have no hearth at all as some more modern fireplaces are either sitting right on the floor or are in a wall and to keep with a modern look having clean lines there was no hearth built. So your inexpensive makeover ideas for revamping a hearth are to either paint or tile the same as your mantle and legs or if you want a cleaner more modern look you can cut out or rip out the old hearth and have a flat surface.
If you have tile on your fireplace already and want to paint over without ripping out the tile you can definitely do that and it will save you quite a bit of time and money. To do so you must make sure the surface is clean and free of any loose paint. Depending on what paint you decide to use you might need to rough up the surface of the tile to ensure the paint adheres. You can use a spray paint so you dont end up with paint brush strokes showing up in the finished product. Ask your paint store or home building center for help and advice. An inexpensive fireplace makeover is definitely possible.
Bonus tip for an inexpensive fireplace makeover
Check your local home building and supply store for a product called air stone. Air stone can be cut with a hack saw and installed using an adhesive out of a pail. Very easy to cut and adhere to the fireplace facade. You can have the look of a real stone fireplace for a quarter of the cost.
