Beautiful European Cottage Fireplace Makeover Ideas & Inspiration

I’m so excited to share some European cottage fireplace makeover ideas and inspiration as we begin to renovate our living room fireplace.

We have lived in this house for 5 years.

And for 5 years I have wanted to change this fireplace.

It’s not the ugliest thing you’ve ever seen.

In fact, there is nothing “wrong” with it.

But it was never my style.

Last year we added “fireplace makeover” to the list of projects we wanted to complete for 2021.

But obviously, that didn’t happen.

So this Summer when I mentioned to my husband that I really wanted to get it done, he must have tucked it away in his mind.

If you want to watch this on YouTube you can do that here!

Because when we sat down for our Q4 meeting to go over our personal and family goals for this year, he brought up doing the fireplace.

Fireworks started going off and I was having a party!

If he was on board with getting this project done, then it was going to get done!!

So it might not be the most popular thing to begin a cottage fireplace makeover when everyone is starting their holiday inspiration.

But because this is something I’ve been dreaming and pinning about for so long, I simply couldn’t pass it up!

So here goes.

Fireplace Makeover Ideas

Fireplace Makeover Ideas: The Mantel

Last year we bought a barn beam on MarketPlace that was the exact size we needed for a mantel on this fireplace.

(Yes, it’s been sitting in the garage acting as a bumper for the truck so my husband can back his truck in the garage and know when to stop haha.)

BUT not for long!

It was only $60 for this authentic barn beam and everything else I was seeing this size was upwards of $150.

Currently, it is a rounded beam, so we are going to use an Alaskan Mill and chainsaw to give it a rough cut on those two rounded sides and square it up.

The other two sides are hand-hewn and absolutely beautiful.

So I think I’m going to leave one of those facing the front so it’s the main thing you see.

Fireplace Makeover Ideas: Stone

Stone Above Mantel

Our fireplace had a stone vaner from the floor to the ceiling.

Which generally is fine by me.

But our fireplace is a corner fireplace.

So at the top where the ceiling and the stone meet it is slanted.

I can’t put my finger on it, but I don’t like that.

I could type up all kinds of reasons that might be my struggle, but the point is, I want to hide that slant and not accentuate it.

So as you can tell, we removed the section of stone above the mantel.

The plan is to add drywall above the barn beam mantel and paint it to match the walls.

Stone Below Mantel

For the stone below the mantel, I am planning to lime wash them.

I like the warmth that they have, and I don’t want it to completely go away.

So with a little creative and artistic freedom, I think I can tone down how warm the stone is but still maintain some of it for contrast.

I have been agonizing over this decision for days though.

Mostly, because I was supposed to purchase the needed materials 2 days ago.

I originally thought I was going to add mortar between the stone and then lime slurry everything.

But when the time came to order the materials I paniced.

What if I don’t like it?

What if it doesn’t do what I thought it would do?

After all of that, I’d be kinda stuck with it.

So literally, I talked to my husband and asked him to walk me through this.

We ultimately decided that if we lime wash the stone first and it doesn’t look the way we want, I can always add mortar and lime slurry later.

But if we do the mortar and lime slurry first and we don’t like it, it’s going to be a much bigger project to get it to what we want.

Fireplace Makeover Ideas & Inspiration

For this particular project, I feel like I’m taking different pieces of inspiration and mixing them together to create this European cottage fireplace.

Below I’m going to share a few different images to show you want I’m attempting to create for our fireplace makeover.

No Mantel

So before we took the stone above the fireplace mantel off there was some concern that we might not be able to hang a 150lb barn beam.

The last thing we want to do is hang the mantel up and it come crashing down.

So I found another idea that I thought would be beautiful.

No mantel!

Deb from Seeking Lavender Lane redid her fireplace recently and I love the way it looks without a wood mantel.

So I decided if we couldn’t hang the barn beam, then we could go this route.

It’s so gorgeous!!

Authentic Barn Beam Mantel Inspiration

For the barn beam mantel these are a few fireplaces that I have always loved.

This first one is from Andrea with Pine and Prospect Home.

Her beam is beautiful and I love the warmth it adds to the space.

The next barn beam I love is in Kelly, from The Lily Pad Cottage.

Her barn beam is stunning and especially beautiful when she decorates it for Christmas.

(I just saw on her Instagram that she is decorating her tree!! And I think she is using the same color scheme I plan to use this year. Burgundy and Brass!!)

European Stone Inspiration: Lime Slurry

This is my friend Jennifer from Nothing Grace and her brick fireplace was refinished with lime slurry.

It definitely adds some old-world texture and this fireplace turned out so good.

But we don’t have a brick fireplace, ours is stone, which is partially why I decided to try to get the effect I’m looking for with just lime wash.

European Stone Inspiration: Lime Wash

Have you seen Joanna Gaine’s cooking show?

But my goal is to achieve this look or even have a little more stone exposed.

The stone that she has in her kitchen feels so authentic and timeless.

I want to tone down the red and orange a bit but leave parts exposed for contract and character.

Something like this old stone home found in Europe.

I’ve been oohing and aaahing over that stone since I saw previews for her show before it came out.

Pin for Later!

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Also, make sure you follow along on YouTube & Pinterest to check out all the other inspirations I’ve been pinning!

Have a great week! XoXo

Open Your Doors,
Aliya

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