Fireplace Reno

I love our fireplace, but when we moved in, here's what it looked like:

What?! A mantel on the top but nothing else?! Where are the sides?! So my hubby built it out and added two sides:

Again, please forgive the gratuitous kitty kat shot. She always seems to know when the camera's out so she can get in the pic.

We didn't like the tile on the fireplace, and I wanted a wooden front on the hearth with moulding. Moulding, again, makes everything look better. So my husband proceeded to remove the tile:

Oops, wait, what happened to the wall?! It was too hard to remove the tile without doing damage to the wall, so my husband just took out a piece of the wall. He then put in drywall:

He put a piece of plywood on the front of the hearth, and put a piece of MDF over that:

Then on to the tiling! We used onyx mosaic mesh tile in 5/8" size for the face of the fireplace (from Home Depot), then we used onyx mosaic mesh in 1" size for the top of the hearth (from Floor & Decor Outlets). The top of the hearth with the tile installed:

Progress is coming right along:

All the tile is up:

Now on to the grout. We used Bright White from Home Depot.

All grouted. Isn't it pretty?! (Those side mouldings at the top are just taped. We didn't use them. I was trying to see if I liked them.)

Then the mouldings were added by hubby. He put them on the front of the hearth and also added some to the fireplace itself.

I painted the fireplace and the front of the hearth with Sherwin Williams Extra White Semi-Gloss paint.

I also painted the black metal surround around the fireplace with Rustoleum's High-Heat paint in black (bought at Home Depot). The surround got scratched up pretty badly when some grout got on it. Although Rustoleum has this product in spray paint, they also have it in a quart. I bought the quart and brushed it on with a foam brush.

Here it is all done.