Hi all,
I'm after some artistic ideas, re my fireplace:
It's a tight little setup - nowt could be done other that have the fire forward of the opening which I didn't want (it's sort of in front of the main doorway).
So - I need to present that ugly little hole a bit better - frame it off if you like.
SWMBO has decreed that we will have a mantle shelf of solid wood "invisibly" fixed to the wall fairly high over the fire - no problem with that - I like it. Let's assume the shelf will be most of or even the full width of the breast...
Happy to paint the top half of the breast - but what for the bottom?
So far:
1) I suggested a small cast iron frame style surround - fairly flat - they have old rusty ones down the road that would clean up nice - but she does not approve...
2) Run a set of fireplace tiles round. Maybe.
3) (Her suggestion) tile the whole area under the shelf. Could work. She has suggested rough stonework but in this house, that will probably look a tad fake. I've suggested raw brick tiles, following the underlying structure (which I've seen - there's a "soldier brick flat-arch" (not sure if that's the right name) over the opening - I rather like the idea of presenting all of this visually on the surface. Before you say, the underlying bricks are too crap visually to present in the buff...
She doesn't like this.
So I wondered if anyone has seen other ways of dressing a fireplace that has a hint of "old" but not "mediaeval" - this is a 1950's house so too "antique" would be a bit crass.
Wood is out that close to the opening as it gets damned hot (not to mention regs).
The inside is rough rendered with lime render and whitewashed - needs another coat as the fire fitting dirtied it up.
I did even wonder about dressing some angle iron as a frame - angle grinder to wibble the edges or something funky, then paint it stove black.
I don't know - I'm not very good at arty stuff!
All ideas, not matter how wacky appreciated :)
Cheers
Tim