So, remember I told you that

It's all done and I love it!

It's definitely the WOW that's been needed in my family room.

Remember, this is what it looked like a little over a week ago:

First thing we needed to do was remove the tile and frame in the arched opening.

I went back and forth, trying to decide if I should keep the opening. I did love the light inside, but it would have been more expensive to keep the opening (because there would have been more stone needed) and I think the arch was too low and it wouldn't have looked right, so my husband framed it in. We left a little note behind the new wall, for anybody who decides to open up this wall 100 years from now ;)

Next up was the installation of the mantel. I found this

awesome mantel

online and got it while it was on sale. I was a little nervous, because I wasn't 100% confident that it wasn't going to look cheap. I was pleasantly surprised when it showed up at my door step less than a week from placing the order.

I would totally recommend this mantel to anybody! It's great quality for the price. My trim carpenter said that he couldn't hardly buy the materials for the price of this finished mantel, so he was impressed too. He installed the mantel for us.

The next day, the masonry guys were here for most of the day and put up the cultured stone:

I already knew I was loving it, even at this half finished stage.

That mantel is just waiting for our Christmas stockings to hang from it ;)

I still need to paint the wall around the top of the stone and clean up those edges and I need to finish removing the blue tape from the mantel (it's there from when the trim carpenters taped it off while installing the stone.)

I am SO loving my new family room fireplace look! I've been waiting for a mantel since we built this place 6 1/2 years ago, so it's been long awaited. It finally feels finished. I just need to decorate it now.

Check out the before and after, side by side: