Our warm and cozy fireplace

Last Friday I mentioned that we were having a gas fireplace installed in our living room. The installers did their work like the pro's that they are. The left Friday afternoon and we had a fully functioning gas fireplace... but that was it, just a big black unit, propped up on a couple of visible shims, protruding from a hole in the wall. It was not pretty. Chris and I spent the next 5 days working on prettying it up! I am very proud of us and all that we were able to figure out on our own. We did everything from the designing, the framing to the tiling and the finishing. We even built those doors, with arched detail and all! I didn't know we were capable of all this, but now that I do, there is no limit to the amount of household improvements I want to tackle on our own!

Here are a few sneak peeks at the details of our new fireplace and built ins. 

The fireplace surround is tiled in a beautiful light glass mosaic. It's reminiscent of marble but is extra glossy and sparkly and has a bit more of a modern feel. To the left of the fireplace we built a shelving unit with one open shelf on the top and closed storage behind the doors on the bottom. 

To the right of the unit we have two open shelves that continue all the way to the wall. The unit is asymmetrical, but still balanced. We combined sparkly glass, mid-toned woods and bright white to hopefully create an overall look that is modern and streamlined but still classic and warm. My mission this weekend is to hang art above the mantle and put all the storage space to good use! Oh, and also to spend lots of time relaxing in front of the fire. :)