Adding Character to our Builder Basic House
Well, I have to admit, generally “palette wood projects” make me roll my eyes, I mean, at the end of the day new wood isn’t that expensive. But as we searched for an inexpensive way to makeover our fireplace, I was surprised to see how palette wood could very closely resemble re-claimed wood when done correctly.
The Research
Here are a few projects that inspired and encouraged me (click on the picture to link to the source and to see more from their projects):
What I also appreciated about these designs is that they don’t look too “country” or like they only belong in a cabin. I love the texture and warmth that the wood adds (especially the warmer toned woods below), but didn’t want to lose the contemporary style of our house.
And, even if you don’t have a fireplace to re-do, this technique looks great for a feature wall or hardboard like below.
{Source for the headboard picture unknown :( }
So, with these ideas in mind, we decided to give it a try (we really didn’t have much to lose!) and set out to find some palettes. In most areas if you just check Craigslist you will find companies giving them away. We had no problem collecting the palettes and specifically looked for a mixture of new and old, and ones with different sizes of boards.
Fireplace Surround Before:
Here is what our fireplace looked like before:
Oh it’s not the worst thing that you have ever seen, but what you can’t really tell from the pictures is that it was actually a faux stone that the previous owners painted. We thought about re-painting it, but with the traditional styling of it, even with a coat of paint we didn’t know that we could get it to match our aesthetic. Plus, with the super high ceilings in this section of our house, we really wanted something that filled the space more adequately.
So the fireplace project begins…
It really wasn’t that much work to remove the old surround (says the woman holding the camera). Although we quickly discovered that the old surround was fiberglass and was VERY heavy. Probably a team-lift project, but…
The only other slight snag we ran into was that the carpet was actually cut out around the old surround so there would be a little patching to do (likely from a bedroom closet) when the project was done.
Preparing the Palette Wood Boards
While I can’t believe we I didn’t get a picture of it, one Sunday afternoon we took a trailer and my husband’s truck and collected about 30 palettes. I knew the key to success with this project would be having a wide variety of colors and sizes to choose from since we wanted a “Re-claimed Wood” look, NOT a free palette wood look! I also had plans for a barn door baby gate that would require some boards as well :)
Once we got back home, my husband used a Sawz-all to cut through the nails to separate the boards.
This was a good approach for two reasons:
1) It was ALOT quicker than trying to pry the boards apart
2) It left the nail heads in the boards which looked cool and didn’t leave empty holes
When all of the boards were in individual pieces, we laid them out on the garage floor.
Assembling the Palette Wood Fireplace Surround
Preparing the boards was the most time-consuming part of the project, but once they were laid out on the garage floor, the project went really quickly!
Here is what we did:
1) Drew vertical lines down both sides for guidelines
2) Laid out boards for the first three rows
>> We purposefully used some full length pieces for some rows and shorter pieces for others
>> We chose different width boards and colors
>> I wanted a little bit of a “stripe-y” look to keep it looking contemporary (you’ll see what I mean more in the final photos below)
3) With each row my husband checked to make sure that they were still level
>> The boards didn’t line up perfectly, there are some small gaps between the boards, but you don’t notice, a great part of this project, it doesn’t have to be perfect!
4) He used a nail gun to attach the boards. Because we weren’t sure we would love it, we didn’t use any kind of adhesive or liquid nails, if we did this again we would as some of the boards have began to pull away a little bit. No one else notices but I do :)
Ta-Da! Our Faux Re-claimed wood Palette wood Fireplace surround!
I love, love, love the final product!
Originally this project appealed to my frugal-ness…I didn’t want to spend a lot on re-doing our fireplace since this isn’t our “forever-home”, but it turned out much better than I could have imagined! I love the warmth that it adds to our main level, you just want to sit in there with a cup of coffee and chat. I also like how well the different colors and tones in the wood go with our existing oak molding.
Here is a wide shot, standing from our kitchen (again you can see our Baby Gate Project here!):
And looking the other way:
The Mantle
For the mantle we were fortunate to find an old timber from a dismantled building at my parent’s farm. It even had some old metal brackets on it that made it even more interesting. We like the simple lines of it since again, we were going for a more contemporary look. I also didn’t want anything too big, I knew I would be putting small things on it, because the room, while it has tall ceilings, is actually pretty small.
Overall, I would call this a Pinterest success story (despite my husband’s skepticism :)! Most of the accessories in the living room came from T.J. Maxx Home Goods (this isn’t a sponsored post, I just like their prices!)
If you have any questions, please leave a comment and I’ll get back to you right away!
Related Posts:
>> Palette Wood 3-Hour Baby Gate (with link to plans!)
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Pallet fireplace mantel, wood pallet recycled in creative ways recycled things.
Absolutely love this!! Want to do the same with ours, just waiting to check on if it is safe for gas ?
Do you have any idea what your wall color is?! I’m preparing to paint and have the same color trim ?
I have a gas fireplace that looks similar to yours and just built floor to ceiling built-ins (my first ever real wood project!) on either side of it and was thinking of doing slate drystack floor to ceiling for the fireplace between the built/ins, but not only is this BEAUTIFUL and way cheaper than the stone, it would also be easier for me to do (I do not have a wet saw for the stone!) However, I am wondering about the wood being that close to the gas fireplace. WOuld it get hot enough to cause a fire? Is pallet wood really safe to use around a surround like that? Did you guys research it prior to beginning and if so, what were some of the websites you checked out on the matter? I want to make sure I don’t do something dangerous! Thanks!
Great questions! We thought of that after we completed our project…we don’t really use our fireplace because of the kids, so we were just going for aesthetic. My husband wasn’t too worried about it, but, with that being said, we are not qualified to give that kind of advice!
wow!! i am sure it’s been said above but WOW!! amazing and I love it!! I am thinking our new back porch will need a heater….which will need something around it to protect it right!?!? WOW!! thanks for sharing with us at the creative challenge upcycle party!
Looks great but not sure it is code compliant. Is your fireplace gas? If so I do believe that there are restrictions with the fire code on wood being so close to the heat source. But that may not apply in your area? But people who may want to reproduce this look should verify with their codes.
Wow, this is amazing!!! What a difference from the old fireplace. It looks wonderful :)
Hi Dawn! Congratulations you were chosen as a feature this week on Creative Spark Link Party on Weekend Craft and you were pinned to our group feature board! Stop by and check it out and link up for next week! http://bit.ly/1hd62JH
I love, love, love this! You guys did a wonderful job on in! I want if for my house, but I have a brick fireplace Darn it!
By the way, I am featuring it for Worthwhile Wednesdays http://thecraftiestallie.blogspot.com/2014/05/worthwhile-wednesdays-19.html
Such a great feature in your whole room–great job!
Thank you so much for sharing your creativity on The Inspiration Board at homework. I so appreciate it!
You were featured in the spotlight!
Have a wonderful weekend.
carolyn ~ homework
Pinned and featuring tomorrow at Bacon Time party!
Absolutely stunning! I have been dying to do a headboard like this! Great job. Thanks so much for stopping by the Creative Spark Link Party hope you stop by again next Wednesday.
Your fireplace is gorgeous. I love the transformation. Thanks you for sharing at Project Pin-it Thursdays.
xoxo
Denyse
Stopping by to let you know I am featuring your fireplace tomorrow! Thanks for joining the Perpetual Party Board!
Kim
I love the new look. And, I desperately want that room with all the windows!
Thanks for sharing your awesome fireplace with us at Motivation Monday!
Saw this at Time to Sparkle – Love it, Got it Pinned!!
Hi Dawn:
The fireplace surround is lovely! Such a great project! Thanks for sharing!
Holy wow! That is one awesome transformation! Thanks for linking up to Monday Funday! xo
You have made a beautiful job of this, so modern and inviting
Wow – what a fab job and it looks beautiful. I love this sort of style and this is the best design I’ve seen by far. Simply lovely – just off to talk to the OH about a new project!!! #magicmoments
Dawn, wow great job on the stunning focaloint you created for the room, love it, what did you use for the mantle piece? Was the wood used as found or did you add the metal hinges for effect? Wonderful transformation !
Thank you! The mantle is actually a piece of reclaimed wood from my parent’s farm. We weren’t quite sure what we were going to use and thought we may have to purchase an old mantle, but when we came across this it seemed perfect, and the metal pieces were already on it :) I may look for some old/antique metal shelf brackets to put below it down the road.
That looks great!!
-Jennie
http://www.thediaryofarealhousewife.blogspot.com/
Wow! What a huge difference. It really is stunning!
Well done! This fireplace looks absolutely fantastic. You should be proud.
Looks fantastic! I would love it if you joined and contribute your awesome posts at my link party at City of Creative Dreams on Fridays :D Hope to see you there at City of Creative Dreams Link Party.
Thank you Shanice! And I would love to link up, I missed it this week but added it to my list for next week, thank you for the invite :)
Love it! Then again, I do love projects with pallets.When redoing my kitchen a couple years back, we found that the house was built with a similar look but covered up with drywall. Of course, I had the drywall pulled down and the whole kitchen/dining room area looks similar to your fireplace surround. :)
Thanks for sharing. Will pin it to my Pallet Board.
I would love it if you considered linking up on my party.
Have a great day!
Wow, that must look awesome! And, thank you for the invite, I will link up this week, just stopped by your blog, how cool! I love that it is three generations :)
This is beautiful, I adore how this came out. I too am trying to change up my builders standard home one DIY project at a time. It is a lot of work, but I am so proud of the unique feel to it all. Just found your blog and am loving it!
Stopping by from the Work it Wednesday party, and just wanted to say that your fireplace looks great! We are thinking of doing something similar in our kitchen, so I love seeing how fabulous it can look!
What a beautiful fireplace!! This gives me so much inspiration!!