That’s it, you’ve heard me right! A total makeover of your fireplace for only £5!

I have to say that when I was sorting out my living room and I decided I absolutely loved the monochrome look, the fireplace ended up being the only thing that didn’t work. Here is the anticlimactic photo!

There is nothing particularly wrong with it. It’s a tidy, clean, standard fireplace. It’s just in comparison to the rest of the room, the fireplace was a total clash with my decor, and I was always so sad it could never match as I wasn’t able to paint it living in a rented house. I thought I would never be able to have the living room I wanted in this house… until now!!!

Voila! Believe me, this dramatic change is more than possible for only £5, and is totally removable, so 100% rent friendly! And I couldn’t be happier with the results! If you want to know how I managed this, read on!

You will need:

• DC-Fix Sticky Back Plastic (or other makes!)
• Scissors
• Pen
• Ruler
• Stanley knife
• Flex Measuring Tape (I think that’s what you call it!)

So, how did I achieve this brand spanking new look?

Introducing sticky back plastic! AKA contact paper, aka fablon. I absolutely love the stuff and it has SO many uses! It’s so cheap and so readily available, why wouldn’t you give it a go!

When picking a pattern for a job like this, I would recommend picking a patterned vinyl that disguises any overlapping and seams, as this will be difficult to do without that! The marble designed vinyl is best, and suits the fireplace anyway. This is the one I used for my fireplace:

With a fireplace, unfortunately it’s not a simple flat surface you can do in one go, I would suggest doing it in sections like I did!

Starting with the top, I measured it all the way across, and allowed for the edges to tuck over. The grid on the back of the paper made this much easier to keep the lines straight.

It’s definitely better to cut larger than you need regardless, as it’s a lot easier and neater to cut off any excess. You’ll also find yourself wasting a lot less paper!

My top tip, on a ‘3D’ shape, is to ensure the largest surface area is smooth and sorted first, then go onto the edges and detailing. As with the top of the fireplace I started it looking like this.

As you can see there is enough paper on the edges to ensure it can wrap around that ‘section’.

When you’re ready, use your plastic DC Fix scraper (or a debit/credit card will work just fine) and smooth out the plastic, working out any air pockets by pushing them towards the unstuck edge. Any stubborn air bubbles, use a pin/needle to prick the tiniest hole and then try smoothing it out.

Don’t worry about making any mistakes, I can’t tell you how many times I had to lift up the plastic again and re-stick it as I hadn’t quite lined it up right. It will stick back down just the same as the first time, so nothing to worry about!

So then I continued to work through it, section by section, using a hairdryer to make more difficult sections stick better.

Here I am again starting with the big sections, then working with the more fiddly parts!

… Excuse the cat!

I just kept going, section by section until I finally completed the lot!

Overall I’m really happy with it. Yes it’s not perfect up close, but the only way you’ll get perfection is with real marble.. or by painting it black. But unfortunately neither are options for me in my current home! You can’t tell at all unless you’re right up close and personal with the fireplace surround!

To assure you all that this is 100% rent friendly, I have done a real world example before this. I had done this with a different colour before, had it on for a good few months, before going for black instead.

The good news is it took less than 15 minutes to peel off the old stuff, and it left absolutely no residue, no marks and it was exactly as before! Great news!

Goes to show, if you’re a renter wanting to personalise your home, a homeowner wanting a change on a budget, or anyone indecisive like me, this is a great solution to totally change up your room!!

If you have a go, make sure you’re following me on Instagram @budgethomeinteriordesign and you share with me using #thisbudgethome, I’d love to see your creations!

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🅻🅰🆃🅴🆂🆃 🆁🅴🆅🅴🅰🅻 . And I've gone to the dark side!! . I fancied a change to this fireplace, and thought changing it black would match the monochrome look more, and I regret nothing! I absolutely love it!! Once again I've used @dcfixbrand sticky back plastic to get this new look! . It was also a great opportunity for me to prove that this was rent friendly, as I had previously used @dcfixbrand sticky back plastic in grey (swipe to see) and it came off like a treat! . A how-to tutorial will be added to my blog shortly for those wanting to give it a go! For less than £5 you too can achieve this look! Link to my blog is in my bio 😊 . Swipe to also see how the fireplace is to start with 😊 . Got some wine in the fridge ready to chill after all this hard work! . #pimpupmypad #beforeandafterdecor #hometransformation #interiorinspirations #myrentedabode #howirent #monochromedecor #lovemyhomedesign #styleitdark #diyhomeprojects #rentalhacks #rentersclub #mybudgethome #manteldecor #budgetdecor #myinteriorsquares #monochromeinteriors #mymonochromehome #houseplantmumma

A post shared by Budget Home Interior Design (@budgethomeinteriordesign) on Sep 28, 2019 at 9:22am PDT