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Our Brick Fireplace Makeover

Friends! We have finally finished our once brick fireplace and I am so excited to share with you how we did it! This has been one project that I wanted to tackle for a very long time, and Mr. Kirk finally made it happen. Let’s be honest – without him – this would never have gotten done. 😉 We actually purchased the stone veneer when we bought the house years ago, and it’s been sitting in our garage ever since. I decided that once we wrapped up our kitchen makeover, we had to do this as part of our family room facelift. It felt really great to get 2 big projects done this winter!

The stone veneer we used is by StoneCraft and we bought it on sale at Lowe’s. Like I said, it’s been in our garage for a few years, so I’m not sure that they sell this same one anymore, but I did a quick search and Lowe’s does offer lots of different veneer options. 

This project took a few weeks to complete, only because with three kids and full time jobs, it was a weekend project (for a few weekends, ha). I’m going to detail all the steps out for you below. Here’s our before photo:

Brick fireplace makeover | Brick to stone veneer fireplace makeover | How to do a stone veneer fire place | GinaKirk.com

Step one: Remove the mantle

Brick fireplace makeover | Brick to stone veneer fireplace makeover | How to do a stone veneer fire place | GinaKirk.com

Step two: Because we wanted to relocate our TV above the fireplace, and because Mr. Kirk didn’t want to ruin the brick, we decided a wall needed to be built. He framed out a 2×4 wall against the fireplace and lagged it to the brick wall. (that’s a fancy way to say he bolted it to the wall – I’m learning haha!)

Brick fireplace makeover | Brick to stone veneer fireplace makeover | How to do a stone veneer fire place | GinaKirk.com

Step three: Cover your framed wall with plywood sheathing (another fancy word). 

Brick fireplace makeover | Brick to stone veneer fireplace makeover | How to do a stone veneer fire place | GinaKirk.com

Step four: Use a nail gun to fix metal lath wire to the wall. I didn’t get a picture of this one, but this is essentially a huge sheet of wire mesh, and it was kind of a pain to get up.

Step five: Cover the wire mesh with a scratch coat. We used Type-S mortar, did a smooth coat over the top then brushed in a texture. Voila – you have your scratch coat. This takes about 24 hours to dry, you’ll notice a color change back to light gray once it’s fully dry. 

Brick fireplace makeover | Brick to stone veneer fireplace makeover | How to do a stone veneer fire place | GinaKirk.com

Step six: This step is optional but highly recommended. We taped off an area on the floor that was the same size as the fireplace wall, and laid the stones out and rearranged them until we were happy with the pattern. This is essentially going to only be a guide, because depending on the size and type of your stone, grout lines will affect the spacing of the stones. Nonetheless, I’m glad we did this step, because there were a few stones that I didn’t care for and others I wanted to move around.

Step seven: Stick your stones to the wall! We used Type-S mortar for this as well, and Mr. Kirk used a spray bottle to dampen the wall a bit as he stuck the stones on. 

Brick fireplace makeover | Brick to stone veneer fireplace makeover | How to do a stone veneer fire place | GinaKirk.com

Brick fireplace makeover | Brick to stone veneer fireplace makeover | How to do a stone veneer fire place | GinaKirk.com

Step eight: Once the stones are all placed, you’ll need to let the mortar set or dry again, for about another 24 hours. Then comes grout! We used the same Type-S mortar to grout between the stones, but added a little bit of liquid concrete color (charcoal) to darken the mortar. It looked super dark going on, but again, lightened up as it dried.

Brick fireplace makeover | Brick to stone veneer fireplace makeover | How to do a stone veneer fire place | GinaKirk.com

Here is the finished product with wet grout:

Brick fireplace makeover | Brick to stone veneer fireplace makeover | How to do a stone veneer fire place | GinaKirk.com

And here is the finished product, dried, cleaned up and with the TV hung!

Brick fireplace makeover | Brick to stone veneer fireplace makeover | How to do a stone veneer fire place | GinaKirk.com

Brick fireplace makeover | Brick to stone veneer fireplace makeover | How to do a stone veneer fire place | GinaKirk.com

You’ll notice that we changed the wall color too. You can see our entire family room facelift here, it’s a pretty amazing transformation!

I hope these steps help you transform your blah brick fireplace into a stone faced beauty. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below! Here’s a before an after photo to pin for later on Pinterest. Don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest and Instagram for more fun DIY projects!

Brick fireplace makeover | Stone veneer fireplace | Stone veneer over brick | Stone fireplace with TV mounted | GinaKirk.com @ginaekirk

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7 Comments

  • Reply
    AMBER MOHR
    May 10, 2016 at 6:53 pm

    Love this tutorial. I don’t have a need for it right now, but you guys make it look so easy and really break it down for the average handy homeowner.

    • Reply
      Gina
      May 11, 2016 at 1:13 pm

      Thank you Amber! I hoped to do that because Joe is so handy, and when I was searching for tutorials there was nothing out there! Hopefully it’ll come in handy for some others who want to tackle their brick 🙂

  • Reply
    Jessica
    May 10, 2016 at 7:02 pm

    How did you get the wood burner to be flush with the new wall?

    • Reply
      Gina
      May 11, 2016 at 1:11 pm

      Hey chica! It still sticks out, but because of the thickness of the stone it’s much less. Which I am totally loving!

  • Reply
    The Home Loving Wife
    May 11, 2016 at 12:07 pm

    This looks AWESOME Gina!!! Tell hubby well done!!

    • Reply
      Gina
      May 11, 2016 at 1:12 pm

      Thank you Kelsey!

  • Reply
    Jill
    May 11, 2016 at 12:33 pm

    Ooohhhhh this is gorgeous!!!!! great job!!! I enjoy reading your blog- keep up the house project pics:) Have a great day!!

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