September 11, 2008

Bringin’ the Heat: A Fireplace Rennovation

When the cold winds start to blow this winter, we’ll be cozying up to our new fireplace. Take a look at the dramatic before and after.

Before

We didn’t like the “weeping mortar.” We think it looks great on the outside of our house but not on the inside. It blended in to our red walls when we wanted it to stand out. And whatever we tried to put on the mantle or hang above the mantle got lost in the bricks too.

From a functional standpoint, we didn’t have frequent access to firewood, so we never used the fireplace. From a structural standpoint, we learned that there was no insulation around the fireplace, so the cold wind was relentless around the edges.

After

The new fireplace comes with a much more pronounced style. We lightened the wall color from a cherry cobbler red to a light grayish blue. Which lightened up the room quite a bit. Here are the paint colors we chose:

Den Benjamin Moore Gentle Gray 1626

Kitchen Benjamin Moore Manor Blue 1627

Your screen might not show these colors very accurately. Ours doesn’t. To pick out the colors we ordered large sheets of the color and taped them on all four walls. You can’t really see the color with just a tiny little swatch. We lived with that for about a week, seeing them in all different lighting and then eliminating colors one by one as we ruled them out.

We replaced/covered the bricks and weeping mortar with new tile:

In Georgia, a fireplace is useful for three reasons: ambience, ambience, and yes, ambience. So with that in mind, we added gas logs so we would actually use it.

Overall it’s definitely a step in the right direction, and we’re happy about it. Thanks Wes and Kayla for the hand holding.