One Room Challenge – Living Room Fireplace

For the past few weeks, we’ve been busy working on our living room for the One Room Challenge (ORC). I’m so excited to share what we’ve done since the event started… but first, I’d love to tell you a little more about our plans.

[The following was written several weeks ago and originally planned to be published at the start of the One Room Challenge on September 30th. We’ve accomplished so much since then! I promise I’ll be sharing soon.]

What is the One Room Challenge? The One Room Challenge is a biannual event, during which designers choose a single room in their home to transform over an 8 week period. The ORC features 20 designers who will document their progress and provide professional advice with 8 weekly posts. Anyone else with a blog or Instagram can register as a guest participant and share the progress of their transformation every Thursday, which can be accessed through the ORC website for others to see. The ORC provides a supportive and enthusiastic forum where participants can share their transformation, find inspiration, and encourage other participants. The One Room Challenge is not a competition. Rather, it’s a celebration of creativity, inspiration, and originality.

For the One Room Challenge, I will be transforming our living room by building a fireplace surround, wood mantel, and floating shelves. Even before purchasing our first home, Vince and I both knew that we wanted a fireplace and mantel in our living room. We love the coziness that fireplaces bring to a space, especially during colder seasons.

This is what our living room looks like now, before starting the One Room Challenge. I don’t love this TV wall, as it has never really felt cozy or complete. We’ll be removing the entertainment center and building our fireplace at the center of that wall.

We are so fortunate to be gifted some of the items that we’ll need for our living room fireplace, including the fireplace insert and stone tiles. Thank you to Touchstone Home Products and Tic Tac Tiles for believing in me and for helping us make our fireplace dreams come true!

For the fireplace, itself, we’ll be using a 50″ recessed electric fireplace insert by Touchstone Home Products. The electric fireplace insert has 3 flame colors and 2 heat settings that have the ability to warm a 400 square foot space. The fireplace insert is easy to install and only requires a regular 120V outlet to function.

For the fireplace surround, we’ll be using peel and stick beige stone tiles by Tic Tac Tiles. These stone tiles are made of real sedimentary stone and can withstand up to 120 F. They’re so easy to apply… Just measure, cut, peel, and stick!

Once the fireplace is complete, we’ll be mounting our TV and building our own wood mantel and floating shelves.

One Room Challenge Schedule:
Week 1 (September 30) : One Room Challenge Plan
Week 2 (October 7) : Fireplace Surround Frame
Week 3 (October 14) : Fireplace Surround Drywall and Electric Fireplace Insert
Week 4 (October 21) : Fireplace Stone Wall
Week 5 (October 28) : Fireplace Wood Mantel
Week 6 (November 4) : Floating Shelves
Week 7 (November 11) : Mantel and Shelf Styling
Week 8 (November 18) : Final Reveal

I’ll be posting a photo update on my Instagram page every Thursday and stories/videos on my Instagram throughout the week so don’t forget to follow along there! I’ll be writing a blog post once the fireplace is complete and another at the end of our One Room Challenge journey.

Are you ready?? This will be the biggest project I have ever done! I’m so nervous but also incredibly excited to finally make this living room look more cozy and complete. Wish me luck!

Love,
Emily