Fireplace renovation complete

I can finally say our fireplace renovation is complete.

 

We have agonised for a long time about what to do with our fireplace. We had the fireplace installed 30 years ago when we had been in the house for just a year. There was massive purbeck stone fireplace there which we had taken out an a new gas fire (real fire effect) and surround fitted. It looked lovely  though they made a mess fitting it and it has slopes at the side of the hearth where they hadn't removed all of the old stone. We couldn't get rid of the slope for fear of damaging the marble hearth. We'd only had it for a couple of months when we had to have the chimnet mesh covered as once the chimney was opened the May Bugs (goodness I hate those things) were attracted to the light and so came down the chimney and into the lounge. The man who fitted the mesh told me I didnt need anything that fine as birds wouldn't get through. I told him I wasn't concerned about the birds!

Then we bought Bengal and from then on we had to have a fire guard for fear the cats would attempt to go up the chimney. I hated the fire guard and we almost never used the fire because it was inefficient and expensive.

So last year we decided we wanted to change the fire. We wanted the chimney blocked to keep the warmth in (blocked so that new people could unblock it easily), the gas taken out and a new electric pretend flame fire. Who would have thought it was so difficult? There are very few shops where you can see these fires in reality and we didn't want to buy it online not having seen it. We went to several specialist stores who were not terribly helpful and who didn't have what we wanted. We didn't know what we wanted really but knew we would know when we found it. Then we found Fire and Flame in Charminster and it was perfect. Ben, the owner and installer, was brilliant, offering lots of advice and we found the exact thing we wanted. We were thrilled.  I cannot recommend him highly enough. We have never had such a clean worker in our home or such a perfectionist. He did an amazing job and we are thrilled.

 

These are the before and during

 

 

 

 

 

The new fire surround is a lot lower and so we knew we had to repaper and paint the chimney breast which we finished yesterday

 

 

 

 

We are thrilled - it has made such a difference.

 

In other news we have some scrapping

 

 

This was from a trip in 2004 on our Wild West tour to Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood to see the graves of Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane

 

 

 

and some recent quick paintings

 

 

 

 

Today I am thankful that

• renovations are done - it was stressful for Koda - he really doesn't cope with any form of noise or change (he's his Mommy's boy!)
• a job we are happy with

and finally some more amazing tattoo art. I'm not really into tattoos but I admire the skill of these

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Jackey]

Do like your fire refurb