Amazing! 😍
50-year-old sprayshop manager Jonathan Barnes saved hundreds of pounds by taking on the project himself. He picked up bargains from Gumtree, eBay and B&Q in order to stick to his budget.
"Then I went to Homebase and picked up lintel for £15 and stone effect wallpaper for £22 before going to Travis Perkins for mortar priced at £7. Online, I browsed eBay and purchased a mesh grill for £9, an LED mood lighting kit for £15 and reclaimed Georgian brick strips for £51. Finally, I got a pre-owned electric fire cassette for £50 off Gumtree."
"Next up, I undertook the challenge of making the opening to the fireplace larger, in order to accommodate my new fire. I used an electric SDS+ hammer drill with a chisel attachment for the job. This was the most physical of all the renovation challenges, which took roughly three hours. "Wooden batons were added to the top half of the chimney breast for supporting the bulk head that I made from chipboard. Once I attached the sides to the framework, I was able to obtain an overall measurement in order to cut the front panel to the correct size.
"Internal and external measurements were taken of the fireplace to mark out where to cut the hearth so that it would fit around the columns; a jigsaw was used for this task. I secured the hearth to the plinth using small 90° brackets. This task took three hours to complete. Then I finished my design by adding wallpaper to the bulkhead and LED mood lighting.