Monday, March 21, 2011

It's warming up!

Spring has sprung here in Charlotte! Flowers are popping up all over the neighborhood and the blossoming trees smell delightful! Things are still looking rather grim at our house (inside & out) but the sunny skies have sparked a new found motivation in us to get a few of these ongoing projects finished.

For the past few weekends Ben has been working a surround for our ugly painted brick fireplace.

Here's how it looked when we acquired it.

not so pretty

Then back in January Ben's dad came down to help him install a new firebox.


That's when we stole some cardboard moving boxes from a new neighbor down the street and covered our floors . We weren't about to have any more "incidents" with the newly refinished hardwoods.

A month or so passed where we toyed with the idea of maybe using some Quality Stone Veneer (the family business), on the face of it, but we just couldn't get it to jive right with the slate tile we had already purchased and were set on using. In the end, we returned back to our original idea of a wood surround that will eventually be flanked by built-in, glass bookcases.

So here's what my handyman has been up to while I tend to other projects (like shining up the floors).




And the hearth tile work has also been set (but not grouted). Here's a sneak peek.


What do you think of the keystone? We ran into a layout dilemma, but after much thought I came up with it and we both really love it. We're planning to put another on the face.

Next up will be priming and then painting it all Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace, just like the rest of our trimwork. We want to also box out the mantle in a thin oak and stain it to match the floors.

At the rate we work, things should be finished in a month or so! Ha! (but it's really not that funny.......and keep in mind that we've been living with dirty cardboard floors since January. Eek!!)


1 comment:

Natalie said...

It looks awesome! I can't wait to see it all finished. I have never lived in a house with a fireplace, although our apt in Greeley had one. I'm jealous.