How to Update Your Fireplace

Seann Rooney removes mantle stone to show how the stones face the previous brick at his home. (SHNS photo by Owen Brewer / Sacramento Bee) Seann Rooney removes mantle stone to show how the stones face the previous brick at his home. (SHNS photo by Owen Brewer / Sacramento Bee)

Lament not if your fireplace has the charm and appeal of a day-old tuna sandwich. Today's options for remodeling ugly, outdated fireplace mantels and surrounds should light your creative fire.

Choose from many materials: stone, tile, chrome, copper, stainless steel, wood, manufactured stone, precast concrete, paint, even polyurethane. Mix materials or feature just one. Hire a designer to originate a work of art or a contractor to assemble the pieces, or go the do-it-yourself route.

Fireplace makeovers are a matter of taste and budget

Home-improvement stores sell wood mantels for less than $200 and complete kits (mantel and surround) for $300 to $400. You choose each piece -- mantel, pilasters (columns), basic surrounds and other decorative elements. The price is right, although design choices might be limited.

Or choose from custom-built mantels and full surrounds that sell from $500 to several thousand dollars depending on size, detail and materials.

"Usually it starts with a client wanting to update the space," said interior designer Dee Thelen of Dee Thelen Interiors of Folsom, Calif. "Since the fireplace is usually a major focal point, I look at what I can do to update it."

Ideally, fireplace design and room design change together. Thelen recently replaced a traditional painted, white brick fireplace in Sacramento, Calif., with a contemporary design using copper, stainless steel and wood. She chose slate for the hearth.

"We were doing a more contemporary setting, and they wanted something a little more formal," she said. "They had a lot of art around. The fireplace is another piece of art."

Thelen had another white brick fireplace faux-painted to look like its original brick to accommodate the client's desire for a more traditional look. Brigette Logsdon of the Sacramento company VP Originals, which specializes in faux finishes, did the work. Kitchen cabinetry comprises about 80 percent of her workload, but fireplaces also keep her busy.

"I've done so many fireplaces," she said. "The sky's the limit; there are no limitations on color or texture."

Her husband and business partner, David Logsdon, said faux finishes are cheaper than replacing fireplace material. Typical jobs run from $800 to $1,200.

"Instead of designing the room around the fireplace, the fireplace can be designed to complement the room," he said.

Brigette Logsdon also applies faux stone and faux wood-grain finishes. No demolition is required for faux finishes.

Major demolition was required for Joe and Jennifer Tillman of Sacramento when they added a new fireplace during an extensive remodel that included a new second story.

"Our chimney would have gone right through the new master bedroom," Jennifer Tillman said.

The answer was to install a direct-vent gas fireplace. It vents through the wall at the back of the firebox, eliminating the need for a chimney. For the trim, the Tillmans had a full-surround fireplace mantel custom-made by Valley Stair & Moulding in Roseville, Calif.

"We found a mantel we really liked in a magazine, and they pretty much duplicated it," Jennifer Tillman said.

The Tillmans tied the new fireplace mantel and surround atop their BMW and hauled it home. They installed it themselves and painted it a rust color.

"It was very easy," Jennifer Tillman said.

Valley Stair & Moulding makes mantelpieces and full-surround fireplace mantels. Their standard mantels range from $150 to $225; mantels with full surrounds go from $500 to $700. More ornate or larger mantels and full surrounds are priced higher. The Tillmans' custom mantel and surround cost about $1,000.

Lucy Bastien, owner of Valley Stair & Moulding, said the mantels are designed and constructed for simple do-it-yourself installation. Customers submit measurements and choose a design, and the company constructs the mantel.

"We make them out of oak, pine, alder or maple, or you can buy polyurethane pieces," she said. Paint-grade wood is less expensive, while oak is perfect for staining. The company doesn't paint, stain or install its surrounds.

Some new homes have nontraditional mantels -- made from drywall or precast concrete -- that prompt homeowners to seek a more homey look.

"New homes have precast concrete mantels because they're inexpensive," said Greg Pickard, a sales representative for Valley Stair & Moulding. "Even though it's a new home, we've had people who want to tear them off and go with something more traditional."
Seann Rooney of Walnut Grove, Calif., wanted to replace a painted white brick fireplace with a more traditional stone look in a bedroom he was converting to a library. He chose ROX Panels, which are among the newest products for fireplace remodeling. Real stone is hand-cut to thicknesses ranging from 1/2 inch to 3 inches. The thin pieces are epoxied to a backing and installed in 6-inch-by-24-inch sections.

Rooney combined Sierra blue limestone panels with a bluestone hearth.

"I hated the white brick," Rooney said.

Rooney, a public-relations consultant, said he paid about $1,000 for the material and did the work himself. Having worked as a tile setter to get through college, he had the how-to experience.

Jess Zamora, general manager for ROX Pro (which makes ROX Panels), said the rock panels are easy to install even without a tile setter's experience.