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XP: help me fix my fireplace (PIP)
Here is our fireplace... black marble(?) tiles cover the entire wall, with a small white tile border at the top and below the mantle. I am going to spray paint the brass to be nickel color. Does anyone have suggestions of how we could improve the look of this fireplace? Could we paint it, tile over it, anything? We originally wanted to mount a mirror above it, however we cannot drill into the fireplace without causing permanent damage so we haven't taken that leap:
ETA: It's hard to tell in the pic, but the middle part (1.5 tiles to the right and left of the fireplace) is sticking out of the wall about 1 foot further than the side/wall part. There is a mantle, the medium gray color thing:
ETA: It's hard to tell in the pic, but the middle part (1.5 tiles to the right and left of the fireplace) is sticking out of the wall about 1 foot further than the side/wall part. There is a mantle, the medium gray color thing:
Re: XP: help me fix my fireplace (PIP)
I would take the black tile right off then at least you could start from scratch and do something a bit lighter. I would then put a lighter tile on the bottom, do a wood mantle and then drywall the area above the mantle so you can hang your mirror.
What would you think about putting some bookcases/shelving on either side (the parts that are back in a bit)
If it were mine, I'd remove the hearth, use black heat proof paint on the doors, remove the mantle and cover over the tiles.
There's a really nice stone product that's available that I've been drooling over for our fireplace. It's only an inch or two thick, but looks like complete stone and comes in "tiles" with a mesh backing similar to how small 1 inch tiles are packaged.
I can't seem to find a link, but the stones are sort of like this, but smaller, with more colour variation and look a more modern http://www.stonefireplace.ca/fp32.html
If that's more than you wanted to invest, I'd probably still do the first three things and then drywall over the marble (there's fire rated stuff, I just can't remember what it's called) and add a new mantle and decorative surround.
how difficult is it to remove tile? I'm afraid what I would find underneath it (brick?) lol. yeah tile is not that expensive so maybe I could use small tiles like they use for backsplash.
I like the shelf idea, but there are actually vents on the side of the fireplace, so if we want to use the fire place we can't block them with shelves. RIght now we can't use it though - I think they put it in the wrong firebox because when we tried to use it, the smoke just filled the room and we had to keep the fireplace doors open. Now that I've painted the room I don't really want to try having another fire until we're sure it's fixed.
ooh removing the hearth would change things a lot... I wonder how hard that would be!!! I'm such a scaredy cat that I would rip it off and not be able to make it look good. lol. decisions decisions!
The rest of the room is wood panelling (YUCK) so when we decide to do drywall for the rest of the room it would be a good time to remove the hearth and drywall next to the fireplace.
It's not hard to remove tile, if it was installed right and there aren't layers of other things underneath it - which is always the fun when doing demo work!
I'm not sure if this is possible, but can you drywall over the tile? You can for sure paint the tile on the bottom if you don't want to remove it, they have tons of websites that teach you how (I'm doing my kitchen backsplah when I'm on mat leave so I have been researching).
Amy - Adam has that same picture on the computer for how he wants our upstairs fireplace.. fortunately we have other more pressing things to get done.
That's funny. The actual stones that I like are used in the new McDonalds - super classy - I know. But really, they are VERY nice. I think the McDs near us has them on their fireplace.
My guess is that there is brick underneath. It's the hearth that makes me think that. I've only seen rounded hearths like that if there's a brick base.
As long as you're not attached to the tile on the wall, removing the fireplace wouldn't be too hard. You might need a jackhammer for it if it is brick underneath.
I have a brick fireplace that has the round hearth and what I wrote above is my master plan for it (when I get the other 5000 renos done).
And as for the smokiness when you light a fire - have you had a chimney sweep in recently? We had one last fall because our family room always got smokey. He gave us some great tips aside from cleaning the chimney. He told us to open a window before lighting the fire - something to do with the pressure and drawing the smoke up. He also told us that we really should be using wood, not fire logs, as the fire logs don't get really hot, which is another factor in why the smoke isn't being drawn up. We do notice a big difference when using wood and making sure the fire is really hot.
Just make sure whatever products you use are rated for use around a fireplace.
You could do floating shelves on either side (with drywall in behind) that way you won't be blocking the vents.
I would probably figure out how much it will cost to get it working before doing anything to it. If they completely messed it up and you can not use it for safety reasons then you might as well either replace it entirely or just get rid of it.
Floating shelves is a good idea.
Maybe we should have just opened the window (as CBL suggested). We did get the chimney swept last year (before trying to use the fireplace), and we did use real wood. I think the best "solution" to update is removing the hearth and then re-facing (with drywall and/or tile). But that is pretty major to remove the hearth so I think this project will move to the bottom of the priority list lol. .. doh.. Well time to go grocery shopping then I have to do coat #2 on my living room and dining room. the first coat took 8 hours yesterday so I am NOT looking forward to it, but on the bright side it looks much better!
Before:
After:
I say rip out all that tile. Sure, you don't know what's underneath it but that's half the fun! (as Sarah pointed out!)
SIL has drywall around her fireplace and it looks super awesome, very modern.
On our fireplace downstairs, it was set on a raised platform of tiles. We hated the tile, and Mike tiled over top of it really easily... but your tile situation is far different.
I like the stones Amy mentioned too!
BIL tiled slate around his fireplace and it looks pretty sweet.
The options are endless! Get rid of that black tile though!
I would definitely remove all of that tile! You can even keep the hearth below and by using a natural stone tile around the front facing and flat stone tile on the platform part will give it a whole new look. Kind of like this, (http://www.renovationshhi.com/images/cab.den.28.2.jpg) I would probably have a mantle piece around the fireplace, and drywall the sides to put some shelves, or custom made shelves to insert.
Above the mantle/fireplace since you want to hang something you don't have to do the stone work up to the ceiling - you can just leave it drywalled and have the stone work along the bottom and the sides of the fireplace itself.
Here's a couple other ideas for cultured stone:
http://www.fireplacesandbarbeque.com/images/uploads/868ee9efba.JPG
http://www.fireplacesandbarbeque.com/images/uploads/66a7eb632a.JPG
I'm sure I could come up with some more ideas, but it might be a good idea for me to get some work done!