EDMONDS, WA :: I used part of my holiday vacation to finally update our fireplace, a year and a half after
moving in. During that time, the edges of our new carpet and laminate flooring remained unfinished where they met with the original brown tile surrounding our bronze fireplace insert, circa 1979. In addition, an alcove adjacent to the fireplace was being underutilized.
I was a little nervous about this project, as I had never worked with fireplaces or tile before, and I didn't want to botch up such an important, central feature in our house. However, I knew most cosmetic home renovations do not require any technical expertise, just patience, planning and attention to detail. Anyone can do them. It turns out I learned everything I ever needed to know from watching years of "This Old House" and "Hometime" on PBS.
The insert doors and firebox were repainted with several coats of high-heat enamel. The existing wall tiles were chiseled out and I scored lines into the floor tiles with a RotoZip to give the mortar more texture to adhere to. We chose a natural stone, travertine, to replace the old porcelain tiles. Since architecture school, I've had a fondness for travertine. It has been used extensively in both ancient and modern architecture, including the Coliseum in Rome, and the
Getty Center and the Salk Institute in Southern California.
I wanted the new shelves to be thick to match the mass of the surrounding structural elements and the large volume of the alcove. They are 2.5" x 4' x 2' (HWD) boxes constructed with sheets of birch plywood, faced with a strip of oak, painted with several coats of white and hung with concealed angle brackets to appear floating in the space.
I just barely met the goal of having the project completed by New Year's Eve, allowing us to return from dinner and snuggle up to a blazing fire in our nice, new fireplace for the first couple of hours of 2008.
Happy New Year!
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