Sunday, October 6, 2013

This Blog, This Blog, This Blog is on Fire! I mean FirePLACE.

I have happened to find myself with a spare 2 1/2 hours, as I am travelling back from my nephew's 1st Birthday party.  I work 6 days a week, and the opportunities for leisure time to blog are few and far between.  But, here I am, on Amtrack.

First off, I am sure many people out there think they have adorable babies in their families.  I am sure you're correct, but I am sorry to tell you that my nephew Jack is THE CUTEST BABY EVER. I have proof:



So, I have a lot of updating to do, but the thing I feel like I have been working on forever, and is closest to completion, is the fireplace.  It's a big focal point, and no way in hell I was leaving it remotely like it was...

 This is what the Fireplace looked like when I did the initial walk through and made the offer on the house.  Prettttttyyyy.

I have made some improvements, albeit slowly, and have just a little left to do with this project.  I still need to stain the trim and finish the edges up, do some woodgrain faux painting so that the trim blends in with the mantel.

However, even "almost finished" it is no longer so completely hideous to look at.  And the cats can't climb around in there and track around sooty kitten footprints.  The glass looks cool, the gas had been capped off previously and I am not hooking it back up, so it's purely decorative, and I may even put some comfy pillows in there and turn it into The Best Kitten bed Ever.


 The stone will also be used in the kitchen, on 2 walls as the backsplash.  I am carrying the gray throughout for the most part.

I am planning to do poured concrete countertops, but getting a hold of someone to actually do that is turning out to be more difficult than I anticipated.  I got in touch with someone a customer referred to me, and his stuff has all kinds of cool seaglass, rocks, etc mixed in, you can even place a sentimental trinket in the concrete...but he did the outdoor bar surfaces at the Hotel Del Coronado...needless to say, he is out of my budget.  I have a contact locally, but he's really a concrete finisher, I am unsure if he wants to do all that is involved in this project.  I found forms online that create the shape and can give a decorative edge rather than just square, but it's still a big job.  I asked my Uncle about it but he is also proving to be difficult to pin down.  It'll happen...better be before Thanksgiving!  I am hosting!





The Mantel was my friend Joe's idea, I used extra planks of the flooring to make the box for the mantel.  The edges (it's a commercial grade laminate, so it has the tongue and groove) are not straight, so I had to decide if I wanted to cut and miter those, or cover them...Ideally it would have been a long mitered 45 degree cut joining pieces.  I do not have that kind of saw, I don't have access to one, I tried to hire a handyman to do finish work and if you haven't noticed, here I am still doing everything myself.  So, I decided to use L Trim to cover the unfinished edges.  The Mantel is the floorboards, joined on the inside using Flat Brackets and L Brackets.  On top of the old brick, I glued down with Heavy Duty Silicone Glue a piece of plywood (I tried to toggle it in to the bricks using masonry toggles and a drill but it stripped out and came right off, so glue was the best option) and then the mantel will be glued to the Plywood.  There is nothing straight in my whole house, so I have to basically rig everything in some fashion to make it work, the fireplace included.

The fireplace has aqua and gray glass chunks in the base now, I spraypainted the log holder silver, and painted the inside of the whole thing the same gray color as my walls.  I have the gray stain, the light brown paints so I can do my thing and make the trim blend in with the planks.  Now, let me carve out some spare time for that.....LOL.

 It looks like it will be the Taj Mahal of Kitten Beds if that's what I do with it.  We'll see.