my fireplace reno- before and after..come enjoy the warmth:)

here's the project exactly one week ago:



after a full weekend and 5 late afternoons/evenings (i didn't say i was fast) here's the result:



the project actually began with:

3 days of prep for paint
painters in for 5 days
3 days post painters work to put everything back up, change 36 electrical outlets (updated to nicer switches, dimmers, new light bulbs), cleanup of everything.
then the fireplace started before i was lost my steam

for my first time on a fireplace reno, i'm pretty happy..more importantly maybe, so is the wife who feels it's so classed up the living room, that we need new couches and window coverings (great excuse..like she needed it)

thanks to everyone who gave me tips through the mortaring, cleanup and grouting.

no doubt on the tile, eh? what a trip back to 1977 that was..yeah, as long as she leaves me the leather couch on the right, she can do what she wants..she'll probably buy flowered furniture to ease the withdrawal from the tile being gone..lol..thanks by the way..appreciated.

as i was smashing it off the wall my wife asked me if it would be worth it to give or sell to someone..i said "who do we hate?"

thanks a bunch, CT and Stove..CT, would love to see pics of your bathroom..be like the pepsi commercials and "remembering the 80s"..LOL.. Stove, funny you mention the mantle a traditional beveled type mantel shelf in oak was originally in the plans, but my wife had a hired designer, then a friend who has an eye for design come in and check things out and they both went the other way..don't break it up with a mantel. go figure..me, i could have gone either way but it was going to be another 200 bucks at least for material on top of my already groaning under the weight reno budget so i was happy to "let it go". and my wife was only reluctant to give up the mantel because "where am i going to hang the xmas stockings". i said..the kids are 16 and 18..time to give up stockings..merry xmas LOL

cool sly..that's quite a screen saver...

and i'm not feeling enough xmas spirit still at this point, asylum, to do the mantle thing maybe next year!

thank you adios, i'll drink to that! are those your "mudworks" by the way? nice looking stuff!

asylum, fortunately, the old one never had a mantel of course so there is nothing to miss persay..honesty, it was in the plan right up until the day before i started putting up the paper, lath and scratchcoat. i had found a very good "how to build your own mantel" (still have the link if anyone wants it) with point by point instructions, architectural rendering with dimensions and picture of the finished project so it was just a matter of buying the stuff and doing it. problem i'd have now doing it is it would mean ripping 2 rows of stone off the wall to do it neatly how i'd planned. originally i was going to stack stone up to the height of the bottom of the mantel, insert it then put up the rest of the stones..it had a bottom so it was kind of sandwiched between the stones rows. how it was fastened is while it would look solid, it had on back so you put it on top of a ledger you screwed to the wall that was narrower than the inside width of the mantel and then fastened it from top and back of the ledger so tight to the wall, very sturdy, no brackets to try to cover, no undermount pieces required. and given this stacking stone has large variances in the face depth, i think it would be very tough to mount it now and make it look great..on the other hand, for a plasma, i could live with that didn't have that there before either! lol

no worries, asylum..and thanks ray..appreciated. your right too, the windows being do balance well. if they weren't so big, we probably could not have gotten away with a 9 foot high stone wall there. also so you know there are 2 large windows at a 90 degree on either side of those windows so lots of glass to offset wall and brick.

i did consider some kind of sconces or lamplights on there..unfortunately, it's almost impossible to get an electrician here for that size job when there's still lots of bigger jobs and cost was a factor as well. i had an overall budget for my renos as follows:

fireplace including all supplies-1000
painting- 2000
garage doors-2500
6 new windows-4500

Total -10,000

I ended up spending i believe about 700 on materials to do the wall. 520 for stone, then grout, mortar, cement bond, brushes,etc etc etc.

painting blew the budget out of the water at 3400 bucks. you'll see why in a few shots below as we added a guest room paint to the budget spur of the moment while they were here and painting i believe it was 46 stair spindles and all window trim (which was brown and had to change to white so benjamin moore aura paint was used which wholesales here at 65 bucks a gallon) so, yeah, i'm up to 12,000 i figure when done so an electrician was not a option. i can do electrical switch changes and such, but doing new feeds through walls and such is not in my repertoire unfortunately another day for that!

another fireplace angle shot:



our loft:



more spindles going up to 2nd floor (house is a 4 level split plus the 400 sq ft loft)

thanks and i get ya on the reversal..lol!