Operation Hearth Re-Tile - The Tile Shop Inspiration

For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you may remember that over the winter I developed a major itch to demo our old fireplace hearth and replace it with something dreamy {and more our taste} from The Tile Shop.

When we purchased our home, we were sooo excited to have a fireplace, but the finishes of it definitely weren’t our style.

We knew the quickest, easiest and most inexpensive way to fix that was to paint what didn’t work.

The wood trim got a fresh coat of white, and so did the dingy, dirty red brick.

The brass screen was sprayed painted a brushed silver, and the worn, unattractive red tile was primed and painted a charcoal gray.  {Don't mind the old Christmas decorations...we moved in on Christmas Eve.}

That solution worked for the short-term.  It helped to bring our fireplace into this decade, but then, you know me...I grew tired of the paint chipping up, and I started dreaming of how much better the fireplace could be.  In other words, I got antsy to cross another project off the list.  I decided it was time to try my hand at tiling.  Ahhhh!!

To get some inspiration for the project, I headed to The Tile Shop showroom, which luckily, just opened a few months ago near our house.  I thought I would make a bee-line for the marble tile choices, but I was mistaken.  The minute I stepped in their doors, I was drawn to all the beautiful displays they had set up.  My absolute favoriteeeee was this bathroom.  I loved every. single. thing. about. it.

After lots of unintentional browsing, I was able to remind myself that I was there for our hearth project, not for a bathroom re-do…so I made my way to the marble mosaic tiles.  I think it's safe to say that I am obsessed with marble tile.  The white and grey veining is perfect for our home, and I love that it’s a classic material.  If it's cut into square tiles, it can be traditional....subway tiles, it can be classic...and then there is the hex tile.  Ahhhhh, the hex tile.  Pardon me while I swoon. ;)

I love that in marble, the hex tile is a classic choice, with a modern twist...perfect for the look we wanted to achieve on our hearth!  {And I'm not gonna lie...some subway tile in a herringbone pattern would also be UH-mazing, but the thought of that was a little nerve-wracking for me to take on for my first tile job.  Eeeeek!!  Maybe that'll be the right choice for a backsplash when the time comes. ;)}

Thank you, Tile Shop for totally indulging my love of hex tiles.  I was able to drool all over them and narrow down my choice to the 1" and 2" mosaics, seen above. 

So with all of that inspiration in mind, it was time to get to business.  I was ready to show that old hearth who is boss!!

***Although I was super, duper lucky to get some free tile and materials for this project from The Tile Shop, this is not a sponsored post.  I've always promised to keep it real with you guys, so I wanted to let you guys know how much they rock! :)***