Before & After: Fireplace Gets a Quick Renter-Friendly Makeover

From Jess:

When living in a rental, you have to think outside the box sometimes. For the longest time I have been wanting to do something to my fireplace. It has always been the eyesore in the living room. It is beat up and crooked. As I was looking around at the decor in the room I realized that it would be an easy improvement to update the fireplace if I used marble contact paper to give it a more chic look.

The main materials are contact paper and an exacto (or utility) knife.

Prior to doing anything to your fireplace make sure you give it a good wipe down so that the contact paper will stick to the fireplace surround. After I cleaned the fireplace surround, I cut the marble contact paper in strips to the desired size leaving about 1/2″-1″ extra paper to work with in case of inconsistency or faults within the fireplace. I lined my paper up to the edge of the fireplace and adhered it to the fireplace surround, leaving the extra overhang of paper the side on the fireplace where the molding is at. Then I took my exacto knife and I trimmed off the extra remaining contact paper.

I chose to block off the fireplace using a mirror. We have never used the fireplace and we have no intentions to do so, so I think this is the perfect solution to adding a more chic, cool vibe to the room. Also, the mirror reflects one of the only source of light that we have in our downstairs, which is pretty nifty and somewhat energy saving during the day.To prop the mirror to the desired height, I used some old but chic Vogue, Glamour, and other fashion magazines. The other decor pieces are interchangeable, but I love how chic and feminine it looks with all the gold. The room is coming together and I love the vibe I get from it.