.fireplace remodel.

probably, i should start with the actual remodel of the original fireplace before we brought it in the house. why do things the right way? instead, let me just show you how we made it look a little less empty.
*disclaimer: this fireplace is not meant to have a fire in it for two reasons. 1) there is no chimey or gas attached. 2) we live in florida.

here's the mantel before; with nothing but wall behind it. oh, and a really, really cute baby in front of it. now on to how all that changed. first of all, my eye guy cut a piece of wood to fit the back of the mantel. he then climbed a ladder to climb in a tree to saw down a limb or three to make my vision a reality. he had really nice background music that sounded a little something like this, "what are you doing? why do you need a ladder? that's dangerous! please don't do that! yes, i want the limbs, but aren't there lower ones? nevermind. let's just do something else. be careful! are you sure you're not going to fall? are you done? do you have to go up there again? don't cut yourself with the saw." soothing, right? 

after he cut all my little wooden rounds, i got to work putting it together. 

well, my eye guy painted the board black and nailed it to the back and THEN i got busy putting it together. 

 good thing my daddy taught me how to use a caulking gun way back when because that came in handy on this project. i pushed out some liquid nail onto each individual wood round and placed it on the board. my eye guy suggested i do one at a time so they would not dry and i did just this until he left the room. 

 i soon realized i could load about a dozen up at a time with the adhesive and put them all on the background. this made it go MUCH quicker and i am not great with patience. win win. 

 head's up- this project can be messy with the real wood and little pieces of outside falling off. so, use a towel like me. 

also, it was important that the wooden rounds looked like "stacked wood" instead of lining up evenly in orderly rows.

*disclaimer number two: i am fully aware that no one would truly believe this was stacked wood. it is more of an artistic take on the idea. so there. 

 i stacked and stacked until i had stacked enough. then, i wish i had stacked a little less. oh well, life goes on. all in all, i'm much happier with this look than the emptiness it had before. ta da!