Craftsman Bungalow Restoration #4: Brick by Brick

Summer 03 Continued

The bath was under restoration. Meanwhile the monstrosity of a fireplace had sat uncovered for 6 months.

“Paint it white,” my dad said. “Put curtains around it,” (Like the elephant man?) We just smiled and said, “We’ll just wait.”

A lot of the houses with redone fireplaces end up with tile. We knew we wanted to try to remain true to the house but had little clue what was there. The brick pointed to brick, but the hearth to tile.

And what mantle to install. We spoke with contractors and carpenters and finally settled upon a brick mason named John Marsh.

The inside of the chimney was relined.

We picked out a pallate of recycled brick and John went to work, using scars on the wall as a guide.

Frisbee poses wiith new fireplace.

We hired a local woodworker to build a mantle and provided the doug fir.

I love the detail of the standing brick.

The plastered fireplace. We have since replaced the mantle. But you will have to read on to see the new one.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne