Hunker Down

Last week I talked about the glass overhead door we installed.  I can’t wait to open that guy up and enjoy the spring weather.  But, Craig tells me I can’t wish time away.  So for now, I’ll enjoy my fireplace.  One of the goals of the addition was to ensure the new house didn’t scream new house.  We were purposeful to tie certain elements from the existing house into the new space and made intentional design decisions to make the new fit seamlessly with the existing.  More on that later.  Next to the overhead door, the fireplace is the element that you likely notice right when you walk into the new space.  We wanted to be sure it felt like something that had been there forever.  Our contractor brought us a few different brick samples to choose from.  We went with one that had a little wash on it so it had the appearance of older brick.  We also chose to do a flush joint instead of a tooled concave joint that you typically see in residential construction these days.  The design of the shape of the chimney was important to me as well.  I wanted the chimney to have a constant taper. Stylistically, it just felt more traditional to me, but with a bit of a kick.  {No, I did not know what any of this meant until I started looking at fireplaces.  I started with pictures and feelings, my husband and contractor did the rest!}  The final fireplace design decision was to pick the perfect mantle.  Remember the open shelving in the kitchen?  The 100 year old floor joists?   We had a couple boards left and decided to use them as mantles both on the indoor and outdoor fireplaces.  I’m really pleased with how they both turned out.  The tools and log holder were both steals from the flea market and a local estate sale.  They were perfect for our space!