Ever have a tiny thing just demand your attention? Even though I know I ought to have different priorities, even though there are better uses of my time and objectively I should stick to my list, I (seemingly arbitrarily) become fixated on this insignificant thing until I realize that NOT making it a priority will sabotage my progress on all of the other things.
In our new house, this thing was the fireplace.
It is the focal point of a room, and it is the first thing you see when walking through the front door. The red marble tile is so so bad, and, sure, it is broken in some more places than it was when we inherited it because oops. The fireplace wall is at a diagonal but the corners are kind of coved so there really isn’t a lot you can do with it. The mantel itself just doesn’t seem very substantial. I thought maybe if we just changed the paint color in the room (which we did — Colorhouse’s Metal .03, which is gorgeous and perfect, by the way) I would feel less urgency. Alas, not the case. So, then I thought maybe if I did something bolder about the wall it would at least distract my eyes from the ugly tile until I figured something out.
Something bold, but also not so bold that it detracted from the 1910’s-ness of the room. Something inexpensive and low environmental impact and relatively easy to undo, should it not work out. Something with actual texture. Something like a cedar shim wall.
Maybe it was Todd Oldham on MTV’s House of Style, or maybe it was Sassy Magazine, but something has been wanting me to do a cedar shim wall since I was way too young to be in charge of a wall or a staple gun. Hey, I am in charge of both of those things now! Ten-year-old me is so jealous.
I figured that leaving the shims natural would be a bit too mod, and no way was I about to attempt stain-matching with our current woodwork. Instead, I decide to stain them a nice saturated color. I am an unapologetic fan of green. It is the color of life and it makes me happy. Colorhouse’s Thrive .06 is all emerald and vibrant and timeless. I thinned it out with some BioShield Aqua Resin Stain in clear and painted 5 packs of long cedar shims plus a few packs of shorter shims for the sides.
Once they were dry, I cut some of the shims to different lengths so I could stagger them. I used a single brad nail for each shim (well, John helped me with the top) and really, it came together quite quickly. I’ve stopped at the mantel for now because we’ve got that to figure out, but it should be smooth sailing for the rest as well.
dostufffeelbetter 