Fireplace Progress

Real progress has been made on the fireplace remodel, yay!  It's been physically and mentally tiring, but so worth it.  I've just got the grouting to do and voila.  Now which grout to use?  I read that you should use unsanded grout on marble because sanded could scratch the surface, but I find sanded to be much easier to work with (it tends to settle nicely in the joints).  I think I'll have to do some more research.  In the meantime, here's some sneak peek piccys.

I had a bit of a crisis moment on Thursday when I thought I didn't have enough of the herringbone tile.  Warning to you all, 12 by 12 tile is not exactly 12 inches.  I'd ordered 4 square feet thinking that I only needed 3.  But it soon became apparent that I may have to order some more which would delay the project by a week.  It was also really tricky lining up the sides with the top because nothing is square!  In the end I managed to piece together the tile like a huge jigsaw puzzle.  So you'll see the grout lines aren't exactly perfect in some places, but hoping that it won't notice once it's been grouted.

Here's how much tile I had left over, I really don't believe in waste! (but next time I think I'll err on the side of caution and order more than I think I'll need).

So for a less than $200 and a little bit of time (OK a lot) and some stress, I've managed to create what I think is an elegant and timeless fireplace surround.

See if you can spot what's missing from the mantel.  To see before pictures go here.

*update*

Here's some recent pictures of the mantel

Apartment Therapy Room for Color 2011

Welcome Apartment Therapy readers!  Thanks so much for all of your kind comments.  As promised, here's some more pictures of my home office.  I've also included a before picture, shocking isn't it?

It's really hard to take a picture of the whole room because I couldn't stand far enough back.  I think I need a better lens for my camera.

I wanted to surprise my hubby with an original oversized Beatles Help movie poster which was twice the size of these ones.  But alas the bidding surpassed my meager budget by hundreds.  One day.

Yes, I'm obsessed with birds, and um it appears chevron!  Really the pattern on the back of the bookcases doesn't stand out nearly as much as it looks in the photos.  It's more of an accent.  And because I merely ironed starched fabric on to the backs, it should be an easy update if I decide to change it.

 I used cute sticky labels to add a bit of color and pattern to the generic Ikea Kasset boxes.

And here's a before picture.  I'm deliberately keeping it small so you don't see how messy it is.  Oh, who am I kidding?

Yikes, orange, faux painted walls.  So from this you can see that I reused the desk, the chair, the blinds, and the drapes.  I would like to get rid of the blinds but we need them for privacy.

Here's a tutorial on how I recovered the chair.  It's not very extensive, because I didn't know that people would be that interested, but it's been repinned a million times on Pinterest.  Next time I'll make sure that I do it step by step.  And here's how I did the light shade.

Thanks for visiting.  TTFN (ta ta for now)!

Oh, and if you want to vote for my home office go here.

Fireplace Renovation

One of the first things that you see when you walk into our house is the fireplace.  It's large, Victorian and just a little bit shabby.  I've been meaning to do something with it since we moved in 14 years ago.  It's been stained, painted and stripped so the wood isn't in that good a condition.  The tile is in an even sorrier state.  It's original mottled green, but almost every tile on the hearth is cracked and it's impossible to clean.  So, and I know this may upset some people, and the decision wasn't taken lightly on my part, I decided to pull it up and start a fresh.  Don't worry all you conservators out there, I did keep the original tile, although be it in many pieces, and carefully placed it in a box in case someone wants to replace it one day.

Fireplace circa 1997

fireplace circa 2005

cracked tiles

more cracked tiles

The hardest part was removing the mantel.  Not because it was difficult, but because I was a little bit worried about what I might find behind it.

original tiles saved and stored safely

I also decided to strip the black paint off of the surround and summer cover.  I was inspired by the gorgeous fireplace in Emma's home from The Marion House Book.  I realized later that her fireplace was actually spray painted gold, and that would have been a much easier choice to make, but oh well.  Four cans of paint stripper and four full days later, it looks kinda OK.  I thought that it was solid brass, duh, until I found out that if you put a magnet to it, if it was solid brass then the magnet wouldn't stick.  Oh course the magnet stuck and it is in fact brass coated cast iron.  But where the brass shows is really pretty, the only thing is, it's kind of patchy.  Still it was a labour of love and you can now see more of the detail of the summer cover.  I never knew it was of a lady standing on a stag with a bow and arrow.  I think I avoided looking at it before because it was so dirty.

I love the clean look of carrera marble on fireplaces.  I think it looks classy and elegant and somewhat timeless.  It also goes with most everything else, unlike the green and brown tile which was hard to decorate around without clashing or looking too busy.  I ummed and ahhed about what size of tile to use, and when Home Depot started carrying marble subway tile, my decision was made for me.  It's not the best tile, but it is easily available and affordable.  I could also buy it and try it relatively risk free because of the low cost.  The second question was whether to carry the subway up the face.  But I do have a thing for herringbone at the moment, so I bought some herringbone tile off the Internet and am probably going to go with that.  If it looks too busy then I'll just go with the subway, but sometimes you have to take risks.

Anyway, without much further ado, here's some pictures of the work in progress.  It probably won't be completed for at least another week or two, because I'm going to paint the room first and then tile.  Plus I'm really slow when it comes to finishing things.  I always have to ruminate over my decisions for days before I actually commit, so who knows the design may change between now and then.

I did toy with doing a herringbone pattern on the hearth, but I think it may be too busy.  I'm currently leaning towards the plain subway tile on the bottom and the smaller herringbone subway tile on the face.  Wish me luck!