Our fireplace, no question, was something we knew we would update at some point. The style was a bit dated for our liking. It took longer than expected to narrow down what we wanted ꟷ Do we go with a traditional look? Mantle or no mantle? Simple, clean lines?
It didn’t make the first round of high priority renovations, but in late 2017 we decided to go with stacked stone for the surround, the price of the tile being the motivation.
Before
Cost: approximately $875
- 6 boxes of 6×24 stone pieces (a steal at $90 on Facebook Marketplace!)
- Floor tile planks to replace previous fireplace material
- Labor to remove fireplace surround and mantle, install new surround stone and adjacent floor tile, and remount TV
- Grout and mortar
Contractor: Hunger Castro
email: bhkreliable@gmail.com
phone: (678) 992-6149
Time
It only took 3-4 days. We were on vacation in California and trusted Hunger and his wife Bella to do the work while we were away since they came by referral from our neighbor who’d used them for some of his renovations.
Pain points
The decision process…took us a year and a half to decide which includes countless hours searching on Pinterest, watching HGTV and looking at new homes for inspiration. It’s also challenging when there are two people involved with two very different styles ꟷ I like understated, modern but functional while Tony prefers more traditional, stately styles. So the fireplace discussion was often “tabled”.
Regrets:
No regrets…wish we had done sooner and glad it’s been crossed off of our seemingly