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Fireplace surround makeover with AirStone

Today I have a new, and really awesome, product to show you.



I first saw AirStone on the DIY Network’s “I want that” show, and then I was ecstatic when they emailed me and asked me if I wanted to review the product.  Last year I made over my brick fireplace by staining the brick, but I love the look of stone and knew it would look great in our living room.  AirStone has 2 colors to choose from and I chose the gray color because I thought it would match our living room perfectly!

It was simple figuring out how much product we needed, using their online calculator.  There are 3 different types of stones, to give you the most natural look possible.

My husband wanted to even out the brick to make it a more level surface, so to start the process, he added a layer of mortar on top of the existing brick. {This is not a required step to install AirStone}.

Once the mortar was dry we started adding the AirStone pieces.  The “stones” were so easy to apply, all we had to do was add a layer of the AirStone adhesive to the stones and then stick them on the fireplace.  We started with the front of the hearth and then worked our way up and back, then we covered the sides of the fireplace.

AirStone is a fabricated stone and it’s really easy to make cuts using just a hacksaw but because of the age, and abnormal size of our hearth, we had to make a lot of cuts so we ended up using our table saw.  The process was simple and quick, it only took us about 4 1/2 hours to complete the whole project and totally transform our fireplace!


I can’t believe the transformation!  It looks so much more modern and fits our style so much better!!!

 

The best part about this project was how affordable it was!  The entire project cost about $200.00 and we have left over stones and adhesive, enough to do another small project.

What do you think of the transformation?  Have you been wanting to do some stonework but can’t afford the high cost of real stone?  AirStone is a great product for a fraction of the price, I’ve already talked 2 friends into making over their fireplaces but just telling them how affordable AirStone is!

About Anna

"Hi, I'm Anna! Wife, mother, child of God, and the founder of Ask Anna. I have always enjoyed cleaning, organizing, decorating and helping people, so I've put that all together on the pages of this blog. I truly hope my tips help you in your home and make sure to contact me if you have a question!"

Comments

  1. Jenny@EvolutionofStyle says

    Nice job! I am working on a fireplace makeover myself with Airstone, and am so happy that I discovered this product! Of course, the rest of the project is taking MUCH longer, but I’ll get there. Eventually. 🙂

    • Donnie Woods says

      Hi Anna, I love the style that u have and I wanted to know the name again. I am just getting my house a make over due to flooding so I would love to try AirStone. I love the gray look because our walls are gray.

      • Anna says

        The only options were gray or tan and we bought the gray. We don’t live in this house anymore but some friends of ours do and even after all these years the stones have held up and look the same as when we first installed it! It really is a great product. 🙂

  3. KatieQ says

    We have a wood burning stove in a corner of our family room. The dark brick sucks all of the light out of that corner and makes the room very unbalanced. Airstone looks like the perfect solution,

  7. Becky Glover says

    I have a very ugly fireplace that the previous owners tiled with white tile. I have been wanting to get rock and redo it, but this would be even better. I love the look of the Airstone and think this would look PERFECT in our living room!

  8. Karen says

    Oh my word! I would love to win the AirStone giveaway. Our Family Room is stuck in the 70’s and this would totally update the space!

  9. tammy says

    Just the thing I was looking for!! We are finally getting around to fixing up the living room/basement of the house we moved into a year ago and the fireplace is hideous! Previous owners painted the brick a horrible terracotta color – looks plastic! Just plain yucky! This would make it look fresh and modern! Great product and looks easy to use!!! Thanks!

  11. Amy McDonald says

    I have a fireplace that I would love to update. We have high ceilings so we can take it all the way up the wall.

  13. Crystal says

    Your fireplace looks amazing!! I love the stone. We don’t have a fireplace…doesn’t really get cold in Texas. Great job!!

  14. Shannon Grundy says

    I have 2 fireplaces that I would love to cover in stone. They are original to our 1969 home and i have painted them, but have never been pleased with the look. I saw these at Lowes and thought it sounded awesome.

  16. Clarissa says

    Definitely my fireplace, we have been back and forth on what to do with it and I think this would look great!

  17. TracieMcOB says

    What a great idea! I have brick on my fireplace in my family room, similar to yours. I thought of painting it, but this would be a much better deal. Thank you.

  18. Beth says

    I would love to use these on the front of my house! We put up new siding and have been looking for just the right product, that we could do ourselves, to cover over the ugly red brick. I think this is it! Even if I don’t win the gift card, which I would love, I still feel like I won finding out about this product!

  19. Shona says

    I LOVE this stuff! We just saw it for the first time in Lowe’s a few days ago. We would love to give our bedroom fireplace a makeover!

  20. Cara says

    This is such a cool product! I would love to do our fireplace in this stone, it’s so ugly right now!

  21. Julie Hesler says

    I have the world’s ugliest fireplace surround (white ceramic tile with what used to be white grout) with a mantle that’s the wrong size/proportion to the legs. I was just thinking about how to make it go away the other day. What a timely post! I LOVE this!

  24. Joann says

    My husband and I were just talking about how to lighten our red brick fireplace. What a timely giveaway, indeed!

  25. emily woods says

    I would love to transform my purple brick fireplace into something a little more visually appealing!

  26. Cathrynj says

    This is the type of stone me and my husband hoped to use on our bland builder fireplace that only has a drywall mantle. It looks great!

  29. Katie says

    I would either make over the stand our corn burner is on or a wall in my kitchen. I live the redo and your mantle!

  30. Mary R. says

    Just saw this product at Lowe’s. We have a light color brick fireplace from the 70’s. Looking to cover it with this great product! Thanks for sharing…

  31. Melissa says

    Your fireplace looks amazing! Travis and I have despised our fireplace from the moment we bought the house. We were just talking about redoing it. Your blog has been giving us all sorts of ideas this month, keep them coming!!

  33. Juliette says

    Anna,
    Wow, what a beautiful transformation. Our house sure could use an update too! :0) Great job.

    Juliette

  35. Sara T says

    I truly LOATHE our cement fireplace surround that someone painted white (and didn’t do a very good job of that either). DH & I would love to try out the AirStone, we were actually just looking at it in our local Lowe’s but put it on hold due to all the other expenses we have around the holidays. We’ve got an odd shaped surround too, but it looks like this stuff will work! I’s love o take it al lthe way up tp the ceiling…current fireplace ends at the mantle.

    • Bridget says

      I would love to use this on our orange brick fireplace with a weird marblelish hearth. I would choose the grey color as all of the furniture is gray toned.

  38. Lori A says

    Woot! Love this! My fireplace is in desperate need of attention, so this would be awesome. Thank you!

  41. Mary Hall says

    I’ve seen this stuff at my local Lowe’s and have DROOLED over it! I love the way your fireplace surround turned out! It looks fabulous.

  43. Kristin C. says

    This looks awesome! I think I’d love to try it on a wall! Would be very pretty as an accent wall. If that wouldn’t work, I’d give it to my mother-in-law who has a fireplace.

  44. Annie says

    My husband and I are contemplating getting a fireplace, and we’d LOVE to have this kind of rock surrounding it. It would be amazing to get this stuff. It would fit in so nicely in our home.

  45. Melissa says

    I’ve wanted to redo our fireplace for years. My husband has vetoed every idea, but when I forwarded him this one, he started asking where we could get the product! 🙂

  48. Cathy Barrows says

    I have so been wanting to try these AirStones. I haven’t investigated enough yet to know if you can use them outside, but either indoors or out I have projects just waiting for me to win.

  60. kelly says

    Hi Anna! I found your post on Jennifer Carroll’s FB page…neat blog! Would love to make-over our standard-issue builder FP with Air Stone!

  62. MichelleO says

    I love it! Great job! We have a fireplace that spans the entire wall so it would be quite the statement with this product.

  65. Trish says

    I have actually bought some of the Autumn Mountain to do the kitchen backsplash!! It seems like it is going to be very pretty…But I do have other projects I could use some for!

  66. jennie says

    My hubby is wanting to put a nice gas fireplace in our home and I love this one, sharing it with him. Be great to win some stone to help with the cost.

  69. Andrea says

    This will cover our red bricks on the living room fireplace if we win! If we don’t I may try staining them…

  71. Kruti says

    I would love to transform our bar area. I have been looking at airstone for a while now and have loved all the transformations I have been seeing online.

  73. Heather S. says

    I’ve been wanting to add stone to our fireplace so I am excited to see an easy DIY project like this!

  75. Lauren says

    I would love to redo our brick fireplace with air stone. We were thinking we’d start with whitewashed paint, but I’d much rather have a stone look! It’s on my to do list for March…

  81. Denice says

    We are getting a new (to us) house with a corner woodstove in the living room-yuck. It has nothing behind it but sheetrock walls. These stones would make it look beautiful!!

  82. Juliette says

    Wow Anna! this looks amazing. I had to do a double take because I was like, “that’s not Anna’s house!” It looks perfect in your home – I love the gray stones! I don’t have a fireplace or I’d be all over this!!

  84. Katie says

    I just learned about these stones today and wanted to try them on my fireplace! I love the inspiration you’ve given me to give it a try!

  87. Toni says

    You found a product you saw on I Want That. I’m trying to find the peel and stick stone that was on an episode on August 7, 2013 and can’t find it anywhere on their website.
    I find the website not very easy to find info about products seen on the tv show.
    Do you have any suggestions? Thanks so much for any help you can give

    • Anna says

      I’ve actually never looked at their website, sorry. I just watched the show and then contacted the company directly. Do you remember the products name?

  88. Carlene says

    Hi Anna,

    Love the look of the Airstone on your fireplace. Have the veneers held up pretty well on the hearth? I wasn’t sure if they could be applied to a horizontal surface.

    Thanks!

  89. Sheila McAllister says

    I was wondering about your hearth. It says on the Air Stone website not to use it on a hearth and I couldn’t find any pictures that showed a hearth. Is it safe to use that way? I have a large fireplace that has a large hearth and was wanting to cover it all with Air Stone.

    • Bethany Davis says

      Hi, Sheila. I’m Anna’s assistant, Bethany. At the time that Anna had written this post, Air Stone had not said anything about not using it on a hearth. You may want to e-mail Air Stone directly and see if it is okay, or link them back to this blog post and find out why it’s not recommended now. Hope they can help! 🙂

  90. Amy Baughman says

    Hi Anna,

    I just finished reading your article about AirStone. What kind of blade did you use when you used your table saw to cut the AirStone?

    Thank you!

    • Anna says

      Honestly, it has been so long that I don’t even remember. I would tell the people at the hardware store what you’re doing and ask them what the best blade would be.