This wall mounted electric fireplace is a huge upgrade to our family room! See how to transform a blank wall into a space with style and function. Affiliate links included – full disclosure here.
Oh my goodness I haven’t been this excited about a post in a LONG TIME. I’ve been teasing this makeover on my Instagram for months now (which is life with 3 kids 5 and under – ha!) I get messages every single day about when I’m going to share the whole makeover, and today is finally the day!
Let’s start from the beginning. We’ve always had a spot in our family room that I just couldn’t get right. I had a table with baskets under it, and the storage was just NOT working. It wasn’t a bad piece of furniture or anything, but it just wasn’t serving our needs. It looked messy all the time! I changed up the decor above the table often, but it just never felt right.
I’ve been teaching the girls in my creative community all about how sometimes we don’t love the decor on our walls because maybe we should do something with the walls themselves.
We asked our handyman how much he would charge to build a frame for this unit, and I wrote all about that process here. He built the bookshelves and the framework for the fireplace insert and TV. We then finished it all off and made it look the way we wanted. Man, it took a while to finally FINISH, but it was well worth it! We are SO HAPPY with how it’s come together!
OK OK enough with the explanation – here are the pictures you’ve been waiting for!
Here’s the whole makeover in less than a minute:
The electric fireplace insert:
We’re SO happy with the electric fireplace insert we bought. It has great reviews, and that’s really what sold us. It puts out heat (you can choose a low or high blower) and I equate it to kind of a space heater for the room. You can also just have the flames on with no heat, and we use that setting a lot too! It has a remote, but we usually use the buttons on the bottom right of the fireplace itself.
Click here to see where we bought the fireplace insert
The built-in bookshelves:
The thing that makes me SO thrilled about this makeover is the fact that we love how it looks, but it also functions so much better for our family. We used our wall space well with these built-in bookshelves that can store so much.
I opted to stain the insides of the bookcases because I didn’t want to have to worry about paint chipping off when we were sliding the baskets in and out of them. I added a pop of pattern in the back with this peel & stick wallpaper. The fun thing is, it’s totally temporary! It’s basically like a giant sticker that we can remove at any time. But I don’t plan on doing that…I love the gray and white buffalo check!
Click here to see where we bought the buffalo check peel & stick wallpaper
The addition of overhead lighting:
Another thing I love about this project is the fact that we were able to add in overhead lighting. This was a kind of “happy accident”. Our handyman wasn’t able to build the bookshelves to the top of the ceiling because the plywood sheets he used only went up to 8 feet tall. So he asked if we were OK with a small soffit on top. We said sure…and then he asked if we’d want to add lights up top. Um – yes! He was already doing some electric work (he added another plug to the wall so the TV could have it’s designated plug and the fireplace could have one too).
Since we’re in an old house, we have no overhead lighting in our downstairs hallway, office or family room. This is SO nice to have!
Oh and we also LOVE our new rug! Click here to purchase or see more details about it (read the reviews!)
Reclaimed wood mantel:
Can I tell you guys that I’ve ALWAYS wanted a mantel? And I’ve never had one? This one is shallow and the TV is on top of it but I love it so much! We had our handyman build it into the structure (you can see pictures of what it looked like mid-build in this post). This is actually a piece from a local reclaimed wood source, and I used a piece of wood from their shop for the “seat” under the electric fireplace. I couldn’t be happier with how they look!
Faux brick fireplace surround:
OK so you guys know that I’m basically obsessed with brick. I installed that REAL brick in our bathroom and then again in our kitchen…but I thought it would be overload to do it in here too. I played around with a few different options, but ended up getting this faux brick from Lowe’s. It comes in panels, and looks terrible. Seriously. Black grout and brown bricks – gross! BUT it was perfect for painting. It’s hard to tell in the pictures, but the bricks look imperfect in person, so it really looks so nice painted!
This was one of those makeovers that has made the biggest impact. The family room is the central room in our house, and we probably spend 80% of our time in here. We’re already getting so much use out of this cozy space, and I just love seeing my family enjoy this space. It’s the best feeling!
Thanks so much for following along and being so PATIENT while we finished this. It may have taken us a few months, but we’re so thrilled with it and it’s absolutely worth it!
Seeeee how big of a difference this made? From poorly utilized space that was perpetually messy (smack dab in the middle of our house) to beautiful AND functional space:
Paint colors
- Benjamin Moore “Nightfall” (one of my FAVE dark paint colors – see allll about my other favorite here!)
- HGTV Home by Sherwin Williams “White Cotton” (we used this white in our bathroom & I love it!)
Shop this look:
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Marty says
It is stunning. What a fabulous design. I love it all
Kim kimbrough says
Awesome makeover! The area looks so much larger than it did originally at first I thought you had moved a wall! Very impactful!!
Cindy says
This is beautiful and so creative! And I love brick too. Still obsessed with your bathroom and still hoping to tackle a brick project in my home maybe this summer. Love your home:)