Fireplace Redo

When we moved into our house, our fireplace surround was tiled with the same tile that was used in our kitchen.  Not only was the tile found on the floors, but the backsplash as well.  And with the openness of our home, our fireplace was needless to say, lacking in personality.  This is what the fireplace looked like before our redo.  

I knew we had a collection of bricks leftover from the builder's materials in the garage and I got to thinking that we needed to put these bricks to good use.  The only logical thing that came to mind was for the fireplace.  Hubs agreed that this would be an easy change that would bring a pop to our living room.  So to add a little trend to the rebuild we decided to use a herringbone pattern in the new design.  This idea came from a Pinterest pin that I had saved from a while back.  With materials at hand and Lowe's right down the street, our idea suddenly became a reality!

Via Our Southern Home

In no time, hubs started tearing out the tile and there was no turning back.  With my in-laws in town, we were able to knock this project out in a few short days.  My FIL took each brick and cut them down to tiles which made the brick set back and flush with the wood floors.  He helped draw out my idea onto paper and luckily he had enough brick tiles made to finish the job.  We couldn't be happier with the outcome!  Take a look!

I love the brick wash and the herringbone pattern that brings this fireplace to life!  We decided not to seal the brick because we didn't want to add any shine or gloss to the look.  The cost was less than $150 for all of the materials and the labor was free.  All the hard work put into this project was definitely worth it!

The differences of color in each brick and little imperfections really add character to the fireplace.

Costco Photo Center Review

I love pictures!  I especially LOVE pictures of my family and my beautiful children!  We had a wonderful photo session with a local photographer that we fell in love with. And, we ultimately chose the pictures she took for our Christmas cards that we sent out over the Holidays.  It wasn't hard for me to find the company that I wanted to print my cards from.  COSTCO Photo Center is my go to for cards and prints.

Costco Photo Center was so easy to use. I simply logged into the Costco Photo Center website and uploaded all of the pictures from our photo session.  Then, I went to the Greetings by Costco section and found the Holiday design I wanted for my card.  The design I chose blended well with the outfits that we chose from our photo sessions.  The only hard part was choosing four pictures to go on our cards.  Here are the pictures I chose. 

And, this is the final design of the card that I chose!  It looks stunning!  Can it be Christmas all year long?  I could stare at this all day!  I had the option of picking up the cards at the store or receiving them in the mail.  I decided that I would pick them up from the store because I go to Costco quite a bit as it is, and I knew that would make my shopping trip much more exciting.  They quickly arrived at the store within five days and I made my rush to pick them up.  Here's how they turned out.  Am I biased?  No, can't be, these people are amazing, they make my heart skip a beat!

 

This is the back of the card.  I debated on having the back space available for me to write in key events that happened throughout the year, but I decided to type something up separate from the card that took up more space than the card provided.

I LOVED the picture of my children so much that I ordered a 24x32 canvas print.  I picked this up from the Photo Center as well.  It was nicely packaged in bubble wrap and inside a cardboard box.  Once I took it out of the box, it was ready to hang on the wall.  I just need to find the perfect spot for it in the house.

I am so happy with the outcome of my orders, that I will continue to use Costco Photo Center for my Holiday Cards, Canvases and prints.  

Hey Y'all!

Hey y'all!  I've always dreamed of joining the blog world and sharing my fun DIY projects and home decor mixed with a few of personal life's moments with fellow blog mommy's.  Follow along with me as I document the process of making our house a home, the hustle of three kids, our travels, and my love for DIY projects! Thanks for stopping by!