Fireplace makeover

Sometimes when we show people the changes we are making in our house we get the question "So what are you going to do with the fireplace?" As though since we are updating everything, why wouldn't we update one of the most obviously dated features in the house? However, as this fireplace is a huge focal point and architectural element in our home, removing it would not only be a major project, it would be disloyal to the original intent and integrity of the home. So it will stay.

And we actually really love it. The slate is from a Montana quarry and is called Montana picture rock. The colors are gorgeous (I have always been a fan of greens in decor) and many of the rocks feature leaf fossil patterns. It is a work of art. So one of my goals has been to make the fireplace feel like it fits in with the rest of the decor, while still transitioning it to the modern environment I'm aiming for. 

The photo above is an old one, before we started any renovations. I think the changes we have made have enhanced the fireplace—but those photos will come later!

Today I want to tell you about those fireplace doors. What to do?

Remove the doors? Unsafe for kids. Put in an insert? Actually, it would be two- one on each side. Expensive.

In a previous post I discussed my intent to spray paint the brass bits black. This is still a valid option, but someone left a comment and suggested I try darkening the brass. I decided it was worth a try.

The lacquered brass doesn't polish up well. Lacquer becomes scratched and mucky over time. In order to age the brass you have to remove the lacquer. It actually comes off pretty easily! One recommendation is using ammonia. I didn't try this but opted instead for something I had in my cupboard: fingernail polish remover.

(Note: in the photo above you can see the valve that turns on the propane for the fireplace. Unfortunately, this valve has leaked for a long time and the fireplace has gone unused. We recently drilled through the mortar to try to fix the valve, but our attempt failed. At this point I'm not sure what we are going to do—maybe hire a pro to fix the valve?) 

While most of the laquer came off easily, some was more stubborn and would find (after I started darkening) that I had missed spots. I used a toothbrush and scrubbed vigorously to remove as much as I could. 

To tarnish the brass, I purchased this brass darkening solution. Some methods recommend using liver of sulfur, but after reading that when heated liver of sulfur produces a poisonous gas, I decided that was NOT the product to use on a fireplace. Ha. This product did the trick easily. 

Here is the fireplace with half of it done:

The directions actually say to immerse the metal into a bath of solution to soak, but I simply used a cotton swab and continuously rubbed it over an area for a minute or so until I saw it begin to darken. 

All done! I know brass isn't everyone's favorite thing, but I like the tarnished brass much better than the lacquered brass. It blends into the rock better where the polished lacquered brass stood out. The purple/coppery tones of the tarnish are beautiful, and having it all shined up doesn't hurt either!

I promise living room photos soon—must clean and take photos first!

Thanksgiving recap and catching up

It's probably time for me to do something about this blog neglect situation. I didn't intend to leave you hanging for—what, nearly two months (gulp!) but I guess life has gotten away from me and I have found it difficult to take the time to write about it. 

Now I'll offer up my excuses. Since I last posted, we (among other things):

-celebrated several more birthdays, including Tom's and Abby's . . . associated sleepovers and cake baking.

-took a family trip to California.

-made Halloween costumes and did the typical Halloween festivities yada yada.

-hosted Thanksgiving at our house.

-and last but mostly to blame, worked on house projects.

What this means is this:

I have lots of material to blog about! :)  Now, if I can just sit down and get that first post written I will be on a roll. It might take a post a day until Christmas to get caught up. No commitments, though. 

Catching up seems daunting, so I will start with the most current events. Auntie Amy knitted new hats for each of the girls (above). Aren't they adorable? And here is Eva enjoying her baby cousin Brandon. She just loves babies.

My whole family was together for Thanksgiving weekend, and we hosted at our house. It was probably a crazy thing to do because we were finishing up projects, moving furniture, and cleaning house until 2:30 AM the night before. But ah, was it ever fun to cook Thanksgiving dinner in our new kitchen! And it is so good to have a deadline to work for, despite the craziness. 

Speaking of kitchens, I have been dying to finish up the last of the projects in ours so I can take some real photos and post before and after pictures of the project. But first I wanted to finish every. last. detail. And we did pretty good.

This is what we accomplished this month on the kitchen:

• Order a new pantry cabinet and install it (actually, this happened awhile ago, but I don't think I've posted about it.)
• Build the wood shelves (Dad) and stain and finish them (me). L-O-V-E them. 
• Caulk and paint all the window trim.
• Hang the curtains that I finished sewing ages ago.
• Install, caulk, and paint the crown moulding above the cabinets.
• Install soft-close hinges on our cupboard doors (we meant to order them this way, but some came without. Love this feature). 
• Install mug hooks on new shelves.
• Order and install a light fixture over the island (finally)! An issue of debate finally settled. 
• Make over the fireplace doors (more on this later).
• Paint the beam and other touchup.
• Replace outlets and switches.

Still to do:

• Tile an area above the window that didn't get done before because we ran out of the adhesive we used. Oops.
• Makeover firebox.
• Paint stool
• Fix the propane leak in the fireplace. We haven't been able to use our fireplace because the valve leaks. We drilled through the mortar to attempt to fix it, but it is still leaking. 
• Patch mortar
• Cut the kickbase off of the sideboard/buffet and add feet. (My dad is going to help build some strong feet to bear the weight of this heavy piece. Someday.)

I would like to get the first three things done before I post pictures. The rest might be a while.

We've been busy, right? There's more.

Here is our list for the hallway:

• Install new vertical windows
• Install new front door
• Install new side light windows (they arrive this week!) 
• Paint front door and side garage door. (I bought the paint.)
• Install trim (almost there)
• Caulk and paint trim.
• Buy new entry rugs that can handle all the ranch dirt that tracks in and out of here.
• Make shelf and bench for mudroom/coat hook area. 
• Stencil wall of coat hook area.
• Hang hooks in coat hook area.
• Hang artwork in hall.

Still more. Here is the list for the Living Room:

• Remove wallpaper.
• Remove those old dusty curtains.
• Remove carpet. (Yes, we did!)
• Scrape popcorn ceilings.
• Retexture ceilings.
• Paint ceilings.
• Spackle, sand, and smooth walls.
• Prime and paint walls.
• Install hardwood floors (Yes, we did that too! Grin!)
• Redo light bar (under old cornice/valance). Build, sand, stain, finish, and install. Paint light fixtures.
• Order and install new sconces.
• Install new hallway light.
• Retrim everything.
• Caulk and paint trim. (almost there)
• Replace outlets and switches. (almost there)
• Order new window treatments. Probably solar blinds.
• Get a light for piano. I'd like a floor lamp that arches over the piano.
• Get an area rug. We might bind some of the old carpet for now. Maybe. It's hard to put something old back into a new space.
• Build desk and cupboard for desk niche. 
• Stencil wall behind desk niche.
• Replace doors upstairs so they are all white and match the trim. Someday.

Whew. Tired yet? We certainly were after pushing to get all of this done before Thanksgiving. And I'm still trying to catch up on the laundry and house cleaning that gets neglected while I'm working on projects.

One big reason for pushing so hard (besides the fact we were hosting Thanksgiving) was because now we are going to take a break (on our house, anyway). My parents have helped us extensively on house projects, so now we are going to attempt to help them in return with one of their projects. They just purchased a 4-plex in town as an investment, and one unit is going to be gutted and redone. They would like to finish it before the new year. Yes, we are all glutton for punishment! :)

After that, if all goes well, I would like to work on our house again until spring farm work calls. Besides finishing the above list, with any luck we'll tackle the laundry room, guest bathroom, and girls rooms. I'll spare you those lists for now. Until then, I will have plenty to show you with the projects I mentioned above. 

And that's all I have for today. Ha :) It is good to be back.

(P.S. I have an issue with compound words. When I run spell check that is all it picks out. A string of incorrect compound words. Sorry, but I'm leaving them! Forgive me.)

Drive by shooting

With a camera that is.

On the way to the bus stop we encountered a skunk family. We see them nearly every day, though you probably can't spot it in my drive-by photo. Yesterday it was a fox high-tailing it across the road. Nearly every morning we also scatter a few antelope from the roadside. This is our typical 3-mile drive to the bus stop, complete with a beautiful sunrise.

Today it is cold, rainy, and muddy. A welcome releif!

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

I'm getting this up at the last possible minute, but wanted to wish Sarah an official online happy 7th birthday!

 

She asked for a cowgirl cake, and I obliged. It was fun to make.

Over the weekend we had all the first grade girls (yes, there are only 5!) for a sleep over. They decorated these little letters for a fun craft project.

On Saturday night we had a family party at Grandpa and Grandma's. Today she shared her favorite cookies at school and we had her favorite dish for dinner (meatballs). Aren't birthdays great . . . when you are a kid and can drag out the celebrations for several days?

Happy Birthday, Sarah! We love your smile and your spirit.

new wood floors

Even though our fall farm work isn't done (we haven't even started seeding yet—waiting for rain), I've been getting the itch to start some house projects again. On a whim Mom and I decided to stop at a flooring store the other day. I've been dying to ditch the old blue carpet in the girl's bedrooms and my mom has been dreaming of new wood floors for her living room. And of course, I'm always keeping an eye out for wood for my own living room floors, though I wasn't sure we would get around to tackling that this year.

Nevertheless, it was the latter that presented itself. Right inside the door of the flooring store was an in-stock (less than a 1/3 of retail price) deal on some solid, 8" wide plank solid wood that we both loved. The wood is a rustic hickory. I like things clean and modern and I love very dark wood floors, but I also wanted a floor that wouldn't show every little scratch and spec of dust. This color seemed just right. 

We brought home a sample and it passed my dad's scrutiny (the ultimate test). My mom ruled it out for her house though because the planks felt too wide for her smaller space, but it looked great in our living room against the fireplace. On top of that, we recently received insurance payments for the hail damage on our roof and gutters. The guys opted to do those repairs themselves, so we have that money to spend on flooring instead and, well, the deal was just too good to pass up.

So, its a bit surreal and I'm quite giddy to be getting new living room floors soon!

Over 900 square feet arrived at the store this afternoon and is ready for us to pick up. It is enough for our living room, den, and master bedroom. It will likely sit around for quite a while before we have time to lay it. It will be even longer before we can move a couple of walls in our master area and lay that section of flooring—maybe even another full year—but we wanted to purchase the flooring all in one batch so it would match. 

Before we can lay the floor we need to strip the wallpaper, scrape the popcorn cielings, retexture the ceilings, and paint. I plan to save a section of the old wool floral carpet and have it bound into an area rug to use in one of the girl's rooms. (It has sentimental value, and it's in great shape for being over 40 years old!)

The white wood sample (above right) was an option I was considering for the girl's bedrooms, though I am still looking for a less expensive alternative.

I've had my heart set on white wood floors in those bedrooms (I would of course put down nice area rugs for softness). Eva's room is north facing and a little short on light, and I know white floors would brighten the space so much. My ideal option is prefinished white-stained oak. However, for cost effectiveness I would settle for unfinished oak and stain it myself. Even less expensive would be unfinished pine, painted white. (White stained pine would probably yellow too much). I like this option but my dad does not. Tom just thinks we should do carpet, but I want a light color. Light carpet is not a good idea at my house. I've even considered Pergo laminate floors.

What would you do?

On another note, I've been considering what to do with our living room fireplace. The rock on the fireplace surround is absolutely staying. It's a huge fireplace, and we really love the green and rust colors of the slate. It is called "Montana Picture Rock" and was quarried from the nearby Rocky Mountains. Some of the rocks have leaf fossil prints in them. 

It is the actual fireplace portion I'm concerned about. Our long term plan has been to have gas inserts installed. However, it is double-sided, so insert(s) would be spendy. Lately I have been reconsidering. We don't need the fireplace for heat (unless the power goes out). We mainly want it for ambiance. It currently has gas log inside, but we haven't been able to use it because the propane valve (outside the fireplace) has a leak. That needs to be fixed anyway, so I'm thinking we should get that working and just use the gas log, leaving the current doors in place.

While I don't hate the brass trimmed doors, they certainly aren't pristine. Nor are they modern. I think brass is starting to come back into trend, though. My question is, should I paint the brass parts black? Or leave them?