I never thought I’d want to rip out an original fireplace, but here we are. We’ll be replacing our original 1920s brick fireplace in the kid’s TV/playroom with a brand new Spanish solid stone fireplace. The whole room will go through a massive make-over and I cannot wait to have it look a bit more sophisticated and grown-up. We currently have three fireplaces in the house (one in the hall, living room, and TV room) and one of them has already been replaced with Portuguese limestone. The previous owners did such a great job with the remodel that I wanted to recreate something similar in the kid’s room. I didn’t want two identical fireplaces, but I still wanted to keep a consistent theme throughout the house.
D E S I G N
It was a no-brainer to choose a more traditional-looking fireplace for this room. I wanted something grand and timeless. When I saw the Balmoral fireplace in Creme Argel stone at the showroom I was sold. I considered a few other designs but nothing came even close to this one. We live in an over hundred-year-old house with original panelling and wooden beams and picking a French Provincial design just seemed like the right thing to do. The Balmoral is such a versatile fireplace and it can be paired with both traditional or contemporary interior schemes. As you may know, I’m a huge fan of mixing old and new and the eclectic look that it produces.
S T O N E
Picking the design was the easy part. It took me much longer to decide on the perfect stone to go with it. Although I love the look and feel of Portuguese limestone, I wanted something a bit more rustic, organic looking. I fell in love with the Spanish Creme Argel stone supplied by Firecraft. Creme Argel resembles more sandstone than limestone. It’s a natural stone and very durable, although more porous compared to limestone. This was a concern for me and I kept this in mind when picking the floor slabs for the fireplace. It also happens to be a bit more expensive than limestone, but it wasn’t going to stop me from getting my dream fireplace. I’m only planning to redesign this fireplace once, so it has to be 100% right.
T H E P R E P
Demolishing the old fireplace has probably been the quickest part so far. There are so many other things that you may need to take into consideration (depending on what type of fireplace you’re installing). Luckily the process has been pretty straightforward and we haven’t come across any major surprises yet. Once the old fireplace was removed, a new fireplace chamber opening was made, including a new concrete lintel (which we were entirely missing). We had a plasterer over to plaster the chimney breast and render the chamber with a beaded edge. We will still need to put up scaffolding, and fit the flue liner and the chimney stack needs to be rendered and painted before we’re done. I wasn’t expecting it to be this much work, to be honest, but I know it will be so worth it in the end.
L A S T M I N U T E C H A N G E S T O T H E D E S I G N
Although I was pretty happy with our final design, I decided to make a few small changes to it after seeing the final draft. I’m glad I got to see the draft version as it made me see the bigger picture. Although the surround slips are plain in the draft, but I opted for a herringbone pattern in the same material in the end. I felt like it needed something extra. I also think that the pattern will go very nicely with the old parquet flooring we are about to restore. I also considered a red brick effect but decided it would be too much. The floor slabs will be dark grey, so there is already a lot going on. Of course, I would have loved to have the entire fireplace in Creme Argel (like in the brochure) but it’s just not practical when having a log burner. The ashes still need clearing frequently and it would most certainly stain the porous Spanish stone. If you want a stain-free material it’s better to stick to a man-made stone like quartz, which is easier to maintain.
T H E W O O D B U R N I N G S T O V E
My husband has always wanted a wood-burning stove and I like how much safer and easier they are to maintain compared to open fire. I also love them together with a solid stone fireplace like the one we’ve picked. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it will be more work than our gas fireplace but it was really important for us to have a real fireplace in this house. I can’t wait for the weather to get a bit colder so we can curl up in the front of the fireplace and listen to the crackling fire sound.
I can’t wait to see the new fireplace in our TV room, so I can start planning all the other fun things. We’ll be restoring the original parquet flooring,(which is currently covered by a very unattractive, stained cream carpet) and redecorating/furnishing the entire room. I’ll share more updates with you soon!
