Airstone Fireplace Renovation – From Builder Grade to Beautiful
My mom is finally in her new home and ready to get started making this builder grade house her forever home! And frankly I’m ready to get to work before this baby gets here!! So I reached out to my favorite stone company Airstone and they offered to send me some stone to take her fireplace from drab to fab! Check out our Airstone Fireplace Renovation!
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Where it Started
So it was cute but so very builder grade! With a black granite surround and simple white mantle it looked like every other fireplace in every other home the builder built. She really wanted something warmer. Something with character that felt like home. And so the project began!
The Materials for an Airstone Fireplace Renovation
The first step to this project was gathering the materials! And I have to thank the amazing people at Airstone who supplied all of the stone for this project! I fell in love with this product the first time we used it on our own fireplace makeover! And knew I had to reach out when she said she wanted an Airstone fireplace as well! I can’t speak enough good things about this stone alternative! It looks and feels like real stone but is only a fraction of the weight! It adheres right onto the drywall so no there’s no demo needed and no concrete board like other stones. So if you’d like to breath life into an outdated fireplace, spruce up a wall with some pizzazz, or are looking to upgrade a builder finish then you’ll need:
- Airstone Primary AND/OR Corner Stones in any color of your choosing
- Airstone Adhesive
- Putty Knife
- Hacksaw
Or
Demo Day
I started by ripping off all of the existing mantle and trim. The plan was to keep the black granite surround but remove all white molding.
Once I took the trim off the surround I realized we had a big problem. The black granite surround was not cut evenly. The tiles were jagged and different sizes. There was no way I was going to be able to but the stone directly up against it.
So we decided it needed to come off. And with it came half of the drywall!
As I kept going I realized this was not going to work for stone adhesion. The plan then became removing all of the existing damaged drywall and replacing it. So I took my multi-tool to it and cut all of the brand new drywall away in my mom’s brand new house. Talk about anxiety!!!
Once all of the damaged drywall was removed I began to repair my mess. I started by screwing new drywall into the studs and used joint tape to secure the sheets together.
Laying the Airstone
Once I had the wall prepped, we were ready to lay stone! Opening 2 boxes and laying all of my stones out was the best way to see all of my sizes and tones to ensure I got enough variation as I went. I started where her two walls meet with corner stones. These stones have a nice curved finish to them and defines the beginning and end of the fireplace feature. I followed the instructions using the Airstone adhesive and back-buttered each piece. The instructions say “think frosting a cupcake not buttering roast” you want a nice thick even layer. I played with shapes and sizes until I had the look I desired.
I began working on the otherside before working my way across.
Hanging the Mantle
We then decided we wanted to hang the mantle and stone around. I prefer getting a deeper mantle and using the stone around the mantle. When we did this at our house we laid all of the stone first and put the mantle up at the end and even though it works I feel like you get a better structure when mounting the mantle first! We simply followed the instructions inured with the mantle. We made sure the support beam was level and screwed it directly into the studs. When measuring the location for the mantle we made sure we put it just high enough to have 1 full layer of stone underneath so that we had less cuts to make.
The mantle hooks right onto the support!
Then I was ready to continue working the stone up the wall. I worked my way up to the mantle then around the sides and continued going up the wall until it was finished!
The Reveal of our Airstone Fireplace Renovation
Our Airstone Fireplace Renovation is finally complete! It was a simple fun process that was so enjoyable to complete! Check her out in all her finished glory!
And here it is in all its finished glory! We are all so happy with how this turned out! I can not believe what a difference this stone made! This was such an easy and inexpensive update that makes such a statement!
