A Fireplace Update

One of the main reasons we chose our town-home was because it was move-in ready! My husband and I are not good when it comes to making decisions. It is very hard for us to agree and we are both very opinionated at the same time. When we finally came across this home, I was pretty exhausted and ready to just finally make a decision! We had several offers that had fallen through in the past and house hunting had been a crazy emotional roller coaster ride for us both.

Just like with anything in life, we did compromise a few things here and there, but overall we loved home! It's hard to believe that it's been a little over a year since we moved in. There is still a lot I would like to change and add in terms of decor, but I'm taking it pretty slow. One of the first major "renovations" we did was adding a mantle to our fireplace. We looked at several different design ideas in our search for the perfect mantle. One thing we both definitely agreed on was that we wanted it to look sleek and modern. We went through several ideas online, in store, and through other contractors. But in the end I kept being drawn this mantel that Stephanie and her husband had built themselves! Can you believe it?! All under $200!! It looks so sleek, so modern and still very inviting. I just fell in love with it!

I love the color white and I had really wanted a white kitchen, but since that didn't happen we thought  it would be a good idea to do the mantle in a white color to help lighten up the room against our dark hardwood floors. Chirag and I are in no way as handy as Stephanie and her husband. We get frustrated just trying to assemble furniture together! And neither one of us is licensed to use a power tool! So there was no way we were going to be able to do this in under $200. We decided to hire a contractor and showed him the picture. We needed our mantle to be slightly higher and although I would have loved to re-tile the surround, it just didn't make sense in terms of our budget. 

In the end, we are both so happy with how it turned out! Although it wasn't as inexpensive as $200 for us, it still fit in well under our budget. And for us it was much easier and well worth it to hire a professional. Stephanie and her husband have done many more projects around their home. Another one of my favorites would this Covered Greenhouse Garden. I would definitely recommend checking out her blog SwingNCocoa for inspiration and step by step instructions. If you are handy enough to do it yourself, then more power to you, sister! :)

Have you done any home updates lately?