I know I’m a tease for stringing you along without showing the money shot, but sadly I have no pictures of my dumb fireplace today. I just haven’t been home long enough to get anything done, and today promises more of the same. Oh holidays, in many ways you are ruining my “life.” If I seem a little melodramaculous, it’s because I’m still bent out of shape over what must be done with the fireplace. I enjoyed your comments yesterday, so much so that I even made up a mock sketch of a charcoal fireplace:
I’m calling that a no… I think. I do love the idea of adding some shades, though.
I’m going to try REALLY HARD to just hang a damn picture on the fireplace today, mostly so you don’t have to endure the tragedy that is shabby chic white painted fan grates winking at you with crusty old maid eyes. In the meantime, please enjoy these pictures of fireplaces that don’t suck.
Why can’t my fireplace look like any of these? Why god WHY?
Deep breaths. Mellow. Blood pressure dropping.
Until tomorrow.
[Casa Mollino, Colombe Stevens, AD, Abigail Ahern, Nina Campbell]
Related posts:
I’ve been looking at it, and I think it’s just the size of the fireplace that screws it up. If you could somehow make it look like that second picture with the gold tile it could work. If you could take off all the brick above the vent thing (and then build a simple box with the bottom open for a mantle, so the fan could work but it would be hidden?). Or somehow plaster over the top part or the whole thing? Anyway, I love the second pic and think something like that would be awesome in your house.
Jenny — you’re absolutely right. The scale is just so off and awkward. We can’t take the brick down past the vent because it’s part of the firebox (gag). Someday we may either a) take half of the bricks down or b) extend them all the way to the ceiling. But something must be done today… it’s time for an optical illusion christmas miracle.
Lately I’ve just been considering stuffing it with dynamite.
I love the rustic appeal of that fat stone one. GAH!
“Melodramaculous” is my new favorite word. Why didn’t you invent this one when I was a middle school teacher? It encapsulates the middle school experience perfectly.
Barchbo, I didn’t know you were a middle school teacher! That is some serious drama (I taught hs).
So, I stole it from a Will Ferrell skit where he was impersonating George W Bush. It’s a classic.
I’m just glad you agree charcoal isn’t the way to go. I think it would exacerbate the problem.
And not to be Debbie-Downer, but those gold fireplaces, while totally fab, would be crazy out of place in your Tudor. Sorry didn’t mean to bring out any more murderous rage.
Hey what do you think of the idea of framing out above the fireplace with drywall? Obviously it wouldn’t be brick, but at least the line would continue up to the ceiling. And I bet BHB or Matt could tackle that for cheap.
You can make it look just like the gold mosaic tile picture one. Use furring strips and dry wall to cover the upper part of the existing one (go all the way to the ceiling to do it right.) Use thicker furring for the lower portion (use the vent as your top edge) to build a box to apply the tile to. Then cover the old vent with a less hideous new vent. Then cover that up with some pretty gold boxes like in the picture.
What Naomi said. I was thinking maybe you could do something a la diana’s fireplace. I also like the idea of doing something a hair darker than your walls, not all the way to charcoal though. I also think bringing in a mantle that would cover the shabby chic grate thingy would really help. Or art. I’m sure you’ve already thought of all this so i know i’m no help.
To everyone: I saw the fireplace yesterday, it really does look nice in the white, I think she’ll like it better once it’s styled
Don’t worry, I’m not rushing out to gold tile my fireplace (although that fireplace is A to the WESOME). If I could do anything, I would rip the entire thing out and either do a stone/slate tapered fireplace that ran all the way to the ceiling, or do a traditional antique quartersawn oak mantel that ends at the right damn place on the wall.
Since I’m not ripping it out anytime soon, I’ll have to work with what we have. Am considering repainting in a slightly creamier color — one that Sanders suggested as a possible ceiling color (come to think of it, WHY did I not ask Sanders what color to paint this god forsaken thing in the first place?!). Naomi, I don’t hate the framed drywall idea (nor do I harbor any murderous feelings towards you in the slightest). Tapered to the ceiling would be nice.
Rebecca, I like your idea a lot. Instead of gold, perhaps a lava glazed paver tile? Heck, let’s do it in a herringbone pattern while I’m dreaming. Marble would be nice, too.
Dear Erin,
you have to paint the wall around the fireplace in the same colour as the fireplace. This means: dark. And the big difference between your fireplace and the five ones you’ve showed above is that they are decorated, very much… With corals, candles, paintings, flowers, sculptures, mirrors, lamps, tables…
You don’t need god to have a fireplace as beautyfull as you’ve been shown
in the five examples above.
Sven
Lighten up. It’s Christmas. Drink some egg nog. Staying drunk for the next few weeks is a good idea. I like Carly’s idea. Paint it a few shades darker than the walls. Then have a milk punch.
Would it work if you added another layer of fireplace onto the existing square bit*. So add a more traditional fireplace mantle construction over the current chimney thing*. (like the second last pic?). You might have to close the fireplace hole thingy a bit,but I think it can look banging…add some wasp to your acid.
*I have my own glossary of uhms and aahs. (How’s that, footnotes to my comment?)
Yikes, my comment made no sense…sorry.
“Melodramaculous” – the word I have been looking for to describe my 11 year old! Anyway, I like the suggestion of framing the whole thing out and drywalling. Nice clean look and lots of finish options. Also, of staying drunk for the next few weeks.
Melodramaculous = awesome. Extending the height of the fireplace would definitely help. I like the drywall idea. Or, a sort-of-quick fix: what about using faux brick panels to add height (instead of real bricks) and then painting the fake & real bricks all the same color? They’d be up high enough, their fakeness could be disguised???
Hmmm, what are these faux brick panels of which you speak?
I’ve seen them with the PVC crown moulding and decorative siding and such things before. I think you glue/nail them on? http://www.textureplus.com/brick/ or these are brick veneers http://brickit.com/brick-types.asp
expensive but interesting…
tear the whole damn thing out. take a sledgehammer to that nasty mean brick that is ruining your life and rip it all out. then buy a whole new insert. I bought a huge discontinued gas model recently (4′ x 4) for $1000. You have a lot of smart people commenting and no one has come up with a good solution, and you are going to hate if forever if it isn’t exactly right. this isn’t the area to compromise…
Those are some very unique fireplace designs. Can only imagine some of the costs involved.
I just came across your blog and your fireplace dilemma caught my eye…
I’ve never commented on someone’s blog before- BUT, since I just went through this dilemma with our fireplace I had to leave a comment.
We had similar looking brick on our fireplace and after much obsessive research on the internet (check out BDDW’s website for their brick wall inspiration) I decided to do a white wash look. I painted the mortar solid white(2-3 coats with a wide sponge brush), constantly wiping any runs into the brick to blend and create a white wash appearance. It took me 3 days, though, so it’s definitely more time consuming than just painting it a solid color.
Unfortunatly, I’m still longing for a more clean look. I may end up just painting it solid white after all. :/
Good luck on making a decision!