Sunday, January 16, 2011

Baby, it's cold outside. . .


But we will be keeping warm inside in style. Here is the picture of my almost finished fireplace. When the living room is completely finished, all the details of the fireplace will be taken care of, but for now you can see what we've done. Below is a before pic from before we bought the house. Wasn't it pretty?


I would have taken that furnace out the day we moved in, but my kids weren't excited about the prospect of icicles hanging off their noses. And below you can see what it looked like once we removed the furnace and the old paneling. We found that this wall was one of the main culprits of cold air coming into the house, and since we live in northern Pennsylvania, that is a really big deal. So this gave us the opportunity to add insulation - not pretty, but very practical.


Here you can see my husband and father-in-law working on the new fireplace. As I mentioned in the previous post, we purchased a gas fireplace that I found on Craigslist for $100. It was the best deal I had seen in all my searching and it meant I could finally get rid of the behemoth furnace!


So, the plan was to build something like an L shape. The vertical part would stand out a bit from the wall, helping the fireplace look more like a real, built-in fireplace. The horizontal piece at the bottom would form a sort of shelf that the fireplace would sit up on, creating a hearth. For the hearth and the mantel, my husband bought these super thick, super wide slabs of cherry wood from an Amish friend.


And here I am priming it. The one thing I disliked about the fireplace was a brass frame around the inset, and that had to go!



Here is the painted fireplace. This was before I sealed the hearth and mantel. You can also see little bits of the paper left from where I used them to protect the wood while I was painting the fireplace. And I am also needing to put in the molding around the base. And I also have one strip of brass left that will be painted black to blend in. Hence the "almost finished" part.


The original plan was to make a box from molding in the top over the mantle, but once I went to hang a mirror, I thought it would look odd because in order to hang the mirror at the height I wanted, it would be really low in the box, so I waiting to decide whether I want to add it or not. I will have to show you a picture soon and ask your opinion.


With the snow we are expecting in the next several days, I am looking forward to homemade hot chocolate and snow ice cream and I call shotgun on the seat in front of the fireplace!

6 comments:

  1. Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. What a transformation. Love it! Lisa~

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  2. You are working wonders in that room! I love before and afters.

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  3. WOW!! what an awesome job you guys did on this..Thanks so much for sharing this...Hugs and smiles Gloria

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  4. It looks great! What a difference! You are going to love that forever!

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  5. oh my! looks so great! What a fun blog you have! I love it, and am excited to start catching up on all your posts!
    –karly
    www.karpluswade.blogspot.com

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