Sunday Favorites...No.72

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Welcome to the 72nd "Sunday Favorites"

"Sunday Favorites" is a Sunday meme designed to give bloggers a chance to share a favorite post from the past!!! For more information on how to republish a past post just click on the "Sunday Favorites" info. photo in the sidebar.

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Hello my friends!!!

Welcome to the 72nd run of "Sunday Favorites"!
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I hope that you are having a wonderful weekend! It's been a busy week at my place and I haven't had as much blogging time that I would have liked. Don't you just hate when real life gets in the way of blogging? Hehe...just kidding! It's all been good!
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I have been working on a project and have found myself totally consumed! In part...it involves my new autumn mantelscape. I hope that you'll come back by for a visit on Monday...I'll share a few photos with you.
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Soooo...in light of my recent autumn mantelscape project, I thought I would revisit a post from November, 2009 for Sunday Favorites this week. The post is about the new faux fireplace that we added to our living room. I have always wanted a fireplace mantel to decorate! Hehe! I hope that you enjoy!
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Wishing you all a super Sunday!

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Instructions for Participating in Sunday Favorites

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Please copy and paste the Sunday Favorites logo button to your Sunday Favorites post or your sidebar so your visitors will know that you are participating. Also...please link back to the host blog, Happy To Design. This is important because it helps those who are visiting your blog, find the other wonderful blogs that are participating.

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Please do not add your link below, until your Sunday Favorites post is actually published to your blog.

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Thank you so much for your participation!!! I am going to really enjoy going through your "Sunday Favorites" posts!!!

Love ya'll,

Chari

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Sunday Favorites

 My favorite post from: November 15, 2009

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It's Metamorphosis Monday!

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Hello my friends...I'm so happy to have you stop in for a visit today! I

 hope that you're having a marvelous Monday!
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Today I have another update on my faux fireplace project! I really appreciate

 Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch for hosting Met Monday and giving

 us the opportunity to share our latest and greatest projects!
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Please go by and pay Susan a visit and while you're there you can check out

 all of the other fabulous Met Monday participants!!!*

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Part III...A Faux Fireplace Update
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The faux fireplace saga continues! Hehe! Many of you have been following
 the progress of my faux fireplace project...so I will try and not reiterate too much!
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To see Part I...just click HERE.

To see Part II...just click HERE
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My Inspiration Fireplace
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*This is my "inspiration fireplace"!
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 I fell in love with this fireplace the minute I saw it! And...it's not just the
 fireplace...but it's also the warm, rich ambiance of this room that I love!
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*Soooo...when I found a fireplace mantel that I thought would be very similar
 and would work in my living room...the project began!
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The Living Room "Before"
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*My living room is a very long and narrow room. The wall that you see
 featured in the photo above is a wall that juts out into the center of the room. I
 have always struggled with this wall...what to do with it...until a couple of years ago
 when I decided to just go ahead and make it a "focal" point. We added panel
 moulding to this wall and I really was quite pleased with it!
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Then....when I found my "dream" mantel...I decided that this would be the
 perfect wall for my faux fireplace! It already looks like a fireplace should be here
 simply because this 10 ft. wall juts out about 2 1/2 ft. into the center of the room.
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 It's perfect!
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The Faux Fireplace Project Begins
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Step I...Taking the Moulding Down

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The first step was to take the panel moulding off the wall.
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 Yes...I agonized a bit over this decision...I really, really did like my
 panel moulding! It just didn't work with the fireplace mantel though...besides
 the fact that it wouldn't allow the mantel to sit flush against the wall...it also really
 looked "busy" to me!*I must admit though...after taking the moulding off
 of the wall...I wondered if I had done the right thing...it looked pretty
 "rough" at this stage!
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*Step II...Patching & Repainting the Wall

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The first thing I did after removing the moulding was to patch that wall and
 repaint! After doing that, it was a bit easier to picture the "finished" project!
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A "Real" Faux Fireplace
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*From the beginning of this project, I had established that I wanted my new
 faux fireplace to look as "real" as possible! Actually, I could have just placed
 the fireplace mantel right against the wall and on top of the carpet. But...I
 wanted more! I wanted my fireplace to look real!!!
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Step III...The Hearth

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Now it was time to concentrate on making this beauty "real"!
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I really didn't want my new mantel to just sit on the carpet so my honey
 built a hearth for the mantel. He used 3/4" MDF and built a box with a ledge
 on top...painted it black...and VOILA! I now have a fireplace hearth!
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After setting the mantel up on the hearth...in place...I decided to paint the
 wall behind the mantel black...to look like the firebox. So what do you think? Is
 it looking more "real"? I think that my faux fireplace project really started to
 come together at this point! I was very pleased with what we had done
 so far...but...it was still lacking!

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Step IV...A New Tile Surround

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I did say that I wanted this faux fireplace to look "real"! Hehe! Well...the
 fireplace needed a tile surround so honey came to my rescue once again! He's the
 bestest honey ever!!! Thank you, Russell!!!
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We had some left over tile from our bathroom floor project from a couple
 of summers ago...just enough to use for a tile surround for the fireplace! Honey
 just took 1/2" plywood and cut it to the shape of the fireplace opening...and then
 added the tile to the plywood. Ooops...I almost forgot to tell you...the tile was white
 with a gray marbling, so I had him spray the tile with a flat black spary paint. I really
 wanted to do a faux finish on the tile and decided to use a gold metallic paint. The
 photo above shows the tile surround...ready for my faux finish! Yep...it's right
 on my kitchen bar...it's where I do my best work! wink!
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*Faux Fireplace Complete!
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Taaadaaa!!! Here it is...in all its glory! My completed fireplace!
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Ohhh...and here is my latest treasure find...new chairs!
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 I found two of these pretty chairs on Craigslist...they are perfect for
 this area in the living room. Before, I had a matching love seat and sofa here.
 I was never really happy with the arrangement because the furniture was just too
 big for this narrow space! Sooo...out went the sofa...we took it to the upstairs guest
 room. Now I just have the loveseat and these two pretty chairs...they fit perfectly
 and now this end of my living room looks larger and more balanced!
 I'm very pleased!!!
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A frontal view of the fireplace with its new tile surround!
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Now you can see the faux finish that I did on the black tile...using the
 gold metallic paint. The metallic is really picking up the light from the photo in
 this shot...it's really not quite this shiny. In fact, the photo below better
 represents the true color, etc.
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I do really like how the metallic picks up the light though...
it's really pretty!
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See how the metallics are picking up the color from the
 carpet...a beautiful effect!

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A close-up of my new chairs! I am thinking about refinishing
 these little beauties though! Hmmm...another project for another day!
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Well my friends...my faux fireplace project is finished and I'm very pleased!

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Now I'm ready for the fun part...decorating that fabulous mantel!
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Stay tuned...maybe there will be another Met Monday post in the making!
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Thank you so much for coming by today and taking a peek at my finished
 project! Please leave me a comment and let me know that you were here.
I would love to visit with you!
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Warmest autumn wishes!