How to modernize your fireplace

When we bought our 1970’s mid century modern home almost 4 years ago the 70’s were still alive and going strong in many areas of our home.

At the time I wanted a super clean space and was not ready to bring a lot of color or changes in quite yet.

I have always felt like I need to get to know a house a bit and see how the light comes in, especially here in the Pacific NW. We have many cloudy days with rain and you have to maximize your natural light. So before making any huge changes I needed to have a clean palate for a while.

So our first step was to remove the long angled mirrors (Studio 54 meets upscale lodge I believe was what they were going for 🙂 ) and put new planks down above the front fireplace.

It was SUCH a great update and made this room feel like she was able to take a deep breath and feel alive!

Last year, I left the whitewashed planks but primed and painted the hearth and surround. The tile was beige-ey and not my vibe, so why not?

This was great for a while but late this winter I kept flip flopping between doing something dramatic on the walls in this room or something to the whole hearth and fireplace.

Being the only room in our home with vaulted ceilings I wanted to maximize the feeling of space and roominess in our front living room. So the hearth won!

I put a fresh coat of Little Black Dress by Behr in an eggshell finish on the already painted areas.

So my “during” photos are usually very hurried as I dive in and forget progress shots but you get the sentiment I hope!

And we just kept going all the way to the ceiling over the white-washed planks.

There were spaces I could not get the darker paint to go into so Troy brought in some black spray paint and shot a bit of it into any areas the white was poking thru.

It worked perfectly!

We did the final coat and I could barely let the paint dry before I wanted to start bringing some plants and some of my favorite finds back in.

When you walk in our front door and look to the left it is such a dramatic change it’s wonderful. I am surprised as well how much the dark paint makes all of my pillows and plants pop. Totally did not expect that!

I have more changes coming but am still deciding on some wall colors/treatments as the light grey main color in our home has now overstayed it’s welcome 🙂

I am so excited for the warm, bright days of Spring and Summer and all of the fun we have sprucing up our space for guests and days by the pool.

We don’t have a huge home but she is ours and I just love trying new things and making the most of our 1650 square feet. It really challenges you to think outside of the box and take a few risks too, after all, it’s just paint!

I hope this finds you cozy and surrounded by things that bring you joy today 🙂

Thank you for reading, until next time!

xo, Tanya