Fireplace makeover 2, Part II: Progress

Emily has been busy, as you can see, overseeing our fireplace renovation project. Our new granite hearth is installed and we bought the marble tile we had picked out to cover the old red brick.

Here’s the new hearth below, waiting to go in:

Let me just say getting that heavy slab of granite into that hole was much more difficult than you would think, mostly due to the mantel. We considered taking the mantel off, but since we weren’t 100 percent sure it would come off nicely without damaging the plaster walls or paint or anything else, we decided it was best left in place. If there is one thing I learned growing up in an old house, it’s that if you can leave it alone and still do what you need to do, leave it alone. Anyway, after a couple of false starts, the granite went in nicely. And as you can see, it looks gorgeous. It’s already a hundred times better than the old red tile that used to be there. 

I spent a couple of hours on Sunday measuring and laying out the tile pattern just so, then numbering it all. My love cut the tile to size earlier this week; within a few days, the project should be completed.

You can get an idea from the photograph below what it will look like once it’s all done. Just imagine the tile I have laid out on the floor over the red brick. It’s going to be just lovely. To be honest, I really liked the fireplace before. But now that I can see how it will look after this little makeover project, I’m really loving it. It will be so much brighter and prettier in my pink living room, don’t you think? 

Wishing all of you a wonderful weekend...

I am linking to Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound.

Photos by The Art of Living Beautifully