I'm so happy we've finally gotten out from under all the boxes!
Now we can start making this old house our home.
And the first room we will be working in is the living room.
And the first thing in the living room we will be giving a makeover is this fireplace.
I am grateful Lord, for this amazing home but You also know
that I need projects to 1) keep me busy, 2) use my creativity, and 3) keep me busy.
So, I accept the challenge!
To remove or reduce the presence of the fireplace in this room is my goal.
It is a mammoth eyesore in the middle of a sea of hardwood floors.
It is a granite quarry in the middle of our slipcovered seating sanctuary.
It dwarfs the furnishings and claims all the attention (like a child throwing a temper tantrum
in the middle of Target because it's naptime and they were told to sit down in the cart kind of attention).
It is not welcoming and not welcome here.
Even the former owner told us he loved all the things about this house except
this hideous, strangely designed, ill-fitted, off-scale thing.
These pictures actually make it seem tolerable.
And beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but...
can you see the scale of it next to the chair?
We had a chimney sweep and repairman come by last week to see
if he would want to take this montsterpiece out of our house and keep the pieces
to rework them in say, a mansion or much larger home.
His assessment of this piece was that it is a granite overlay over the original surround,
and most definitely NOT craftsman style.
It may have been created sometime in the 80's and is actually very well-made.
His work order said that we can remove it ourselves with a 4-pound hammer and a chisel.
(He wanted nothing to do with it!)
We've begun some changes...
the blue walls are being painted over in Sherwin Williams Loggia SW7506.
The trim is Sherwin Williams Alabaster SW7008.
Last week, my recently-graduated-with-an-Interior-Design-degree-from-a-prestigious-university
friend Robin also came by and told me that she thought the painted tiles looked like caveman drawings.
I don't think I'd laughed so hard in a long time.
I dunno if cave art is what the artist/stone mason/funder of the design
had in mind when it was crafted.
Maybe Robin was trying to be as nice as possible (you were, weren't you?),
but it steeled my resolve to keep this focal point from being called names.
Sticks and stones and all that. (Which it is, actually).
Poor thing.
I recently priced 4 pound hammers, chisels, and looked at my schedule.
We don't really have the time now to re-do, re-work, or re-face this surround
so what did I do?
I surfed Pinterest, of course, and did "research" on "painted fireplace stone".
I found lots of Pinspiration, and I'd like to ask you all:
"What would you do? Take it out and see what's behind it or simply paint it, for now?"
Here are the ideas I found.
(I could not find the source for a single picture, sorry!)
(I could not find the source for a single picture, sorry!)
Something I love to say and to remember is,
"I love turning ugly, unloved, and unwanted things
into beautiful and useful treasures
because this is what Jesus' love has done to me."
I also wrote about my friend Anita's amazing fireplace makeover HERE.
Do you think our fireplace can be saved?
(Or should we peek behind it?)
