I am going to be making a fireplace surround and hearth using ceramic tile. Its a zero clearance wood burning fireplace. The walls where the surround will go is sheetrock and the hearth is wood-framed and raised off the floor 12". I have a pretty good idea how to start, but I am curious if anyone has any tips that I should know about. Maybe you have done this yourself? Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

I ve done literally 100s of fireplaces. The ones that are raised up the 12 " that you say are a bit more challenging.Do the hearth 1st and let dry. You may or may not be able to line up the legs to the hearth, so don t worry if it doesn t ( most wont) Now the fun part..You ll just have to dry lay them out on the floor to see how they ll lay. You ll just have to see if you want to cut the to out side tile or one in th middle to make it fit, this you ll do top and bottom. The side legs you can cut the one coming down to the bottom or middle one or the top one going into the header. Any questions you can e mail me by clicking on my avitar . GL
Edit /add on.. You can either use a mastic or a thinset. Have the size spacers you want or need handy. I most commomly use eithe a pc of 1/4 inch luan that I have cut into pcs just foe this( I carry a coffee can of these at all times) or I use an 1/8 th inch spacer that are called wedges that you can but most any place that sells tile. again GL

My fireplace surround is stark white and tends to look dirty easily. I don't want to paint it, but had seen something that looked like a stain, sort of collected a bit more in the grout. This stuff is very porous. Any ideas, instructions and/or instructional websites would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to save money and do it myself, but would like to be told if this is something that could be easily messed up and better left to a professional.

You could try using a wood stain-I would go with a very light walnut shade. You should have your brush almost dry when you start to dapple on. In other words, dip the brush, then wipe til only a tiny bit of stain remains in the bristles. Start in an inconspicuous place in case you don't like how it looks. Wait until your first "experiment" dries before proceeding. The color is always lighter after the stain dries. Even better would be to try and find a piece of precast with the same texture/color as your surround so you could practice on it first. You can put the stain on and then wipe off immediately for a very light color, or leave longer for darker. Faux painting is faux painting...it's hard to mess up...it just looks different from one project to the next. If you are really worried about the porosity of the surround, seal it with a clear sealer before staining. Also try checking websites of paint/stain companies. They want their product to look good, so they will give you good advice on how to proceed.