Fireplace Wall (December 2020)

Our final big indoor project, and the one we have been working up to with our tile trials is a fireplace feature wall.  Our family room has a 12 foot high, big blank wall that we want to add some interest to.

We started out by building the front piece of the feature wall, with a cutout for an electric fireplace and another for a TV mount.  We built it in place to avoid any problems getting it into the room.

Once we had the front wall done, we started framing the bump out portion directly on the wall.  Otherwise, there won't be enough ceiling clearance to stand it up.

Once we stood the front piece up, we secured it with ratchet straps to hold it in place until we could get it screwed into the back piece.

Next came the drywall.

We used large format porcelain tile.  Each piece was 2' x 4'.  We laid all of the porcelain tile out in the garage to ensure that we had a pattern that we liked before we started putting it up on the wall.

We used a premixed mortar that was recommended to us by an associate at Floor and Decor, and used a leveling system to ensure that each tile laid perfectly flat.  We painted the nook where the TV mount would go black to make it "disappear" once the TV is in place.

Once we allowed time for the mortar to set up, we broke out all of the levelers and cleaned up the seams for the grout.

We still need to install the TV, but our feature wall is complete.  

This project was a lot of fun, except for the top 4 feet or so.  Getting the 2' x 4' tiles up that high was a bit daunting to say the least, but we did it and are very proud of the finished product.