Who knew deciding on a fireplace layout could be so difficult!? Or that you would have to go online to order a mantel and surround (my gawd, how did people find stuff in the 90's?)? The best deal found for mantels and surround was on the heyneedle.com website. We decided on the solid wood Pearl Mantel in the Williamsburg model, which had the 50" interior width that we needed. The website also boasted free shipping and I found a 12% off coupon code. YaHoo!
After a very quick delivery the mantel had arrived safe and sound- and our next big step was figuring out and designing the surround interior layout: tile, faux brick, painted brick, stacked stone/slate?? Which one would look best with holiday trappings? Both of us liked the stacked slate (it grows wild here in Idaho). There was also a nice mix of browns that I felt would complement the wood flooring we had already purchased.
It was from this point the tides turned and we ran up against some marital conflict. From the beginning I was all about the traditional horizontal rock/slate surround configuration. *not mentioned was the idea of an arch and keystone design above the fireplace opening- our plate was full enough and I did not want to choke Joe dear with another idea bite :)* J's thoughts for the surround was taking the stacked slate for a lateral walk around the opening (less 'cuts' approach). We were both in disagreement. The lateral instillation would look great for a whole wall fireplace with a slab mantel above the fireplace opening, definitely a post modern look in my opinion. I kept angling for the traditional look to stay in line with the rest of the house.
In the end tradition won, and what took us a week to decide on, was finished in three hours (turns out it was not so terribly hard to make the 'cuts' after all).
Here are pictures of the decision making process...
No comments:
Post a Comment