Alright- so you’ve built your fireplace. Woohoo! You did it- so proud of you! Now it’s time for the fireplace surround. If you didn’t see my post about building your own DIY fireplace, check it out here!
Okay here we go. This part doesn’t have nearly as many steps as building the fireplace. Here’s a reminder of where we left off:
Okay here we go. This part doesn’t have nearly as many steps as building the fireplace. Here’s a reminder of where we left off. As you can see, my last post stopped at the drywall/mudding process. My next step was supposed to be the Roman Clay, however, it froze during delivery and I had to wait until warmer temperatures to reorder (I explain more in this post). So, in the meantime I bought drywall primer and black paint so that I could keep moving forward.
First I used 1×2 trim to go around the fire place insert to act as the surround. Then, I used a 1×2, 1×3, and 1×4, to create my mantel. I glued and clamped my pieces of trim together ahead of time. I felt that I would get a cleaner cut if I cut all three pieces together as one piece, versus trying to cut all three separately and then piece together. Then, I attached them to the fire place with my brad nailer (linked below).
Once I created my borders, it was time to work on the fluted trim. I batch cut all of my trim since (aside from the side pieces) they were all going to be the same size. This helped prevent me from running back and forth to my miter saw. I wanted to avoid making a ton of holes with my brad nailer (so I wouldn’t have to fill them later). I cut my pieces so that they were super snug and didn’t need a ton of nailing to stay in place.
The final step was to fill any nail holes using stainable wood filler. Once filled, I lightly sanded. Then I added two coats of Minwax Colorwash for my stain in Barnwash Brown (choose the color that will work best for you!). It’s also recommended to use a pre-stain wood conditioner prior to staining, this helps for the wood to absorb the stain evenly. I used a foam paint bush because it has a nice angled tip that helped me to get into all of the grooves. Finally, seal with a sealer of your choice! I prefer using a matte finish!
Tada! Finished project! 
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