The Saga of the Fireplace

Once upon a time some people bought a house in Seattle.  And it was mostly a very nice house, if you ignored the fact that it had been painted by colour-blind people.

The living room, for example, was painted bright egg-yolk yellow accented with a pillarbox red fireplace.

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The woman who bought the house really wanted to do something about the fireplace as soon as they moved in, so she set up a poll on her blog asking whether she should just paint it white or strip back the paint.

Despite 49% of her readers telling her to paint it white, she decided to strip back the bricks to see what was underneath using a fabulous paint stripper made from soybeans.

First of all the fireplace looked like this

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and then this

130-1and it stayed that way for a very long time because removing the paint was really quite time consuming and tedious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then a friend announced that she would be coming for a visit and the owners of the fireplace decided that it really should be finished before she came.

So they set to work with a vengeance and got it looking like this with just one week to go before adding the final touches.

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And finally the fireplace was finished.

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Yes, after all the anguish and elbow grease we decided to paint it white after all, and are delighted with the result. I’m wishing we hadn’t spent quite so much time and effort coming to this conclusion though, and  I promise I will never, ever ignore you guys ever again.

There’s still much to be done, but finally I’m really starting to like this room. We’ll be talking paint colours next week.

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Comments

  1. says

    Ah, yes, the colourblind people who insist on painting… Our living room was ORANGE.
    You’ve done a great job on the fireplace and the paint job will probably last WAY longer because of all the prep work you did!
    Looks great!

  2. says

    Thanks all! Though I’m still kicking myself that we didn’t just paint a couple of coats of white over the red on the first weekend we moved into the house…

  3. says

    While we all love the sight of a roaring hot fire there are lots of unlike fireplaces that you will find. These many unlike fireplace designs are in their own way quite a lovely to look at. You will see many great looking designs for fireplaces in old homes and also in stores that contrive and build these fireplaces. The main fireplace designs that we are acquainted with are those of the large flat fireplace type. You will however find other types of fireplaces. The project shapes of some these fireplaces can be in the modern look of electric fireplaces. With these fireplaces you will find that a small cubicle has been made in the wall. The cubicle is square in design shape. The versatile wires that are needed to connect this fireplace to the electricity mains will be located behind the fireplace. You will also find that the front face of the fireplace resembles logs. This is just one of the fireplace designs that will enhance the look of your living room without having to concern about the possibility of ashes. You can also look for other fireplace designs in catalogs for your home. While looking for various fireplace ideas is one of the best ways to choose the type of fireplace you would like to sit before you will need to think about some other matters first. The first item you will need to consider is whether you wish to have a wood burn fireplace or a gas fireplace. You can even think about installing an electric fireplace. This decision needs to be at the top of your plans for fireplace designs…Please read more on a site that is all about this subject and more for your interest… Thank you for taking you time to read through this information if youโ€™re interested in gathering more knowledge please continue to search this site.

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