This room has been a challenge from day 1. The TV is a 72 inch flatscreen so it takes up the majority of the wall. The living room and dining room are connected and open.

The living room is narrow and very long. And after much rearranging and creative concepts, this was the best place for the TV.

The wall had been primed for a clean slate and we were just so indecisive about what we wanted to do. We thought about building a custom media cabinet, but that would be so expensive + we’re not expert woodworkers, yet. 😉 I drew up some rough sketches and we settled on this one…

Adding a flatscreen electric fireplace underneath the TV would balance out the visual weight of the TV. The brick would add interest and texture, which was much needed because the TV took up such a large space of the wall. I read that you’re not suppose to put a fireplace underneath a TV, but we have electric heat so we won’t be using the heat setting on the fireplace. We primarily got the fireplace to balance out the TV..and, it’s really pretty. We got the fireplace as a custom order at Menards. It has several LED color flame options as well as a dimmer.

 Now we measured and marked our walls where we wanted the brick to end. We didn’t want to do the entire wall. I wanted just the TV and fireplace accented. The initial plan was to build OUT and then put the brick on the frame + add floating shelves directly on the wall. But, after we installed the fireplace we realized it really didn’t look bad to put the stone directly onto the wall. It actually looked REALLY good!

We looked several places for veneer stone that looked realistic. We didn’t want to put real brick on the wall because quite frankly, we are lazy and didn’t want to deal with all that. We wanted to just stick it directly on the wall and be done with it. We really loved AirStone after seeing it at Lowe’s. I loved how you could just put the stone directly on the wall with some AirStone adhesive. Seemed easy enough. So I decided on using AirStone and I wanted to mix the colors “Autumn Mountain” (which is more warm colors: think orange, brass) and “Spring Creek” (which is cool colors: think blues, grey). AirStone is currently available at Lowe’s and also on lowes.com

For those of you wondering, I got this directly off AirStone website- “AirStone is non-flammable, non-combustible and safe to use around wood stoves and fireplaces. It has a Class A rating in accordance with ASTM E-84 standards.  AirStone Interior Adhesive is rated up to a temperature of 120˚F, and AirStone Exterior Adhesive (which can be used indoors) is rated up to a temperature of 300˚F.”

You will need:

Airstone
Airstone adhesive
Wet washcloth
Level
Putty knife
Dust mask
Masonry blade or hacksaw

You may also need*

Studfinder
Paintable silicone caulk
Dremel tool or grinder
Chalk line

I started from the bottom of the wall keeping within my marked lines. The bottom was the hardest part because the stones kept slipping down the wall. I applied 3 rows and let it sit to cure.

I used a masonry blade (a blade without teeth) to cut down the brick to make sure i was following my marked lines.

When I first applied to adhesive I was impressed. It was very soft and fluffy-unlike putty. This was creamy. And the directions say to apply to like you’re “icing a cupcake” and “not buttering your toast”. I thought was a really good analogy because you don’t want to apply it too thin.

The adhesive comes in small buckets (128-fl oz.) so I wasn’t sure how many buckets I was going to need. I was surprised it only took 3 buckets to complete this project. Not bad for $14.97 a bucket 😉

I used a level to make sure each stone was level. If it wasn’t level, I raised it up with a piece of card stock paper until it was level.

Try your hardest not to get any adhesive on the face of the bricks. If you get some adhesive on the face of the brick, clean it BEFORE it dries. If it dries, you will have to use a washcloth and “keep it damp for at least 20 minutes or longer until it starts to loosen up). You should then be able to scrub the adhesive off using more water and a soft toothbrush. So just try your best to get the adhesive off before it dries.

Lots of leveling to make sure the bricks are even and straight.

This was easily one of the most time + cost efficient, but most dramatic DIY I have completed to date.

The paint color I used is Hammered Zinc by HGTV HOME

I’m very, very happy with how this turned out.

I would buy AirStone a million times over and over because I love it THAT much. We’re actually going to add some brick onto a pillar that’s in our dining room to help connect the two rooms in the open floor plan.

I think eventually I may add some mirrors with overlays on each side of the brick to reflect more light and make the space seem even bigger.

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