 FIREPLACE
FACELIFT:
Add warmth to the look
of your living room
BY LINDA CALVERT JACOBSON
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROBERT FRENCH
A fireplace provides more than a just a means to
warm your home on a cold winter’s night or a flickering
backdrop for a romantic dinner with your
sweetie. Your fireplace should be the focus of the
room it occupies, complementing the overall decor of not
only that space, but of the home and your lifestyle as well.
Simplistic in their design, fireplaces have been popular
amenities in homes for many generations. While they have
changed little in their basic concept since becoming popular
during the Victorian era, that doesn’t mean that you have to
live with an outdated fireplace or mantle. Today, you have
several options for giving your fireplace a facelift, ranging
from a simple fix to an extreme make over. Let’s start with
something as easy as replacing the screen or tools.
Screens not only provide safety and protection, but they
are also an important aesthetic element. Today’s screens come
in many styles and finishes, ranging from brushed steel to
basic black. A new screen can be purchased at your local
home improvement store for under $100.
 Tools: You may also want to consider replacing your fireplace
tools. Options include modern styles, such as brushed steel,
pewter, nickel or iron. Or you can go more classic, with antique
brass, bronze or polished brass.
Surrounds: If just updating the screen and tool set isn’t
enough, then take a look at the fireplace itself and the room it
occupies. Many fireplace surrounds from the 1970s are covered
in brick that, while popular in its day, is now too garish for our
tastes. A quick fix is to subdue the color by painting the brick to
match the walls.
This is a great do-it-yourself project, as it only
requires preparing the surface with a waterproofing sealer and
then using a paint that is made for that purpose so it can withstand
high temperatures when the fireplace is in use. Both products
are available at home improvement stores.
Tile, marble or stone? Another option for the more ambitious
homeowner is to cover the entire surround to give it a
whole new look and feel. Options range from ceramic tile to
stone or faux-stone to a custom-cut slab of marble. Within each
of these options are additional choices, depending on the time
you want to invest, your skill level and, of course, your budget.
A new ceramic tile surface requires some preparation and
special tools. As for the design, you may want to keep it simple
with a classic design that says pure elegance, or get creative with
a mosaic that exudes personality. Either way, a starting place for
shopping would be any good tile supply store.
If you plan to create a mosaic, broken tiles can offer a great
bargain, since you’ll be breaking them up anyway. But don’t limit yourself to tiles, as
any ceramic can used, such as old dinnerware. If that’s the plan,
then spend some time shopping thrift stores and antique shops
for treasures to add to your fireplace surround mosaic.
Stone, faux stone and marble surrounds offer a more traditional, yet
contemporary, fireplace front.
While any of these can be done by the do-it-yourselfer, you’ll
want to get advice from experts before you embark on the project. Researching the Internet, or visiting with professionals where stone is
sold, would be advisable. You may decide to call in someone skilled in
fireplace installation and renovations for your next project.
 Mantles, maybe?
Defining the outside edge of the fireplace is the
mantle, which can range from a simple
shelf-like element across the top
of the fireplace to a full frame with matching pilasters.
If it doesn’t already have one, adding a mantle can
give your fireplace a more finished look and, again,
options vary.
Mantle kits can be purchased that range from under
$100 for a basic, stain-grade white hardwood to over
$1,500 for a hand-carved, French Provençal ready-to stain
or paint set.
For something a little more unusual, shop antique
stores and companies that sell reclaimed architectural elements
for used fireplace mantels that are looking for a
second life. Of course, you can always opt to have a custom-built mantle, which can range in price from several
hundred to several thousand dollars. But a made-to-order
mantel does allow for special treatments, such as limestone
or marble, which offer a more elegant look.
Updating your fireplace can range from an easy
weekend painting project to a complete remodeling
job. But the joy it will bring in the years to come will be
well worth the effort.
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