Prepping Your Brick for the Holiday Season

Hello, friends!  Last week, I shared my wreath which was hung from a mantle-less fireplace.  Today, I am sharing a quick post about how I accomplished this simple task. 

Prepping the Stone
I absolutely love a warm fireplace during cold weather, don't you?  Our modest casa is an older one, so sometimes the inevitable happens...when we use the fireplace, soot makes its way onto the stone because of our very old-fashioned screen.  It can be rather unsightly!  When I attempted to hang the wreath, it looked horrible with all of the soot behind it, which wasn't terribly noticeable until I snapped some photos.  Hate it when that happens!    ='(

I always use a broom with firm bristles to remove as much soot as possible when I routinely clean the stone.  For deeper cleaning of the stone, this vinegar solution, a scrub brush, and paper towels did the trick.  This simple solution came from The 99¢ Store and it worked like a charm!

The vinegar doesn't seem to effect the mortar, and it worked quite well.  Here is the before:  Yikes!

and after:

Anchoring a Wreath to a Mantle-less Fireplace

To anchor the wreath to the fireplace, I used these easy-to-use brick anchors I found at Joann's Fabrics.  The instructions are simple, and you can use these indoor or outdoor, and likely I'll use them for our stockings, too!

Voilà!

Until next time...

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