DecorBook Classic : Finally, a Bedroom Fireplace Redo

This spring, I finally got a project completed that was 26 years in the making. I always joked that the primary bedroom fireplace surround was made on a Friday after the foreman told his workers to throw up a mantel as fast as they could. We'd never turned on the fireplace since the house inspection in 1999. Mostly, I tried to pretend it wasn't there. This spring, it was finally time for a change. Let's see what happened.

For years, I kept the fireplace hidden with a screen. More than once, I thought it would be nice to have a little heat in the room without turning on the furance.

I choose this simple surround as inspiration. As per code, the surround needed to be a minimum 12" fireproof materiel.

Floor&Decor had enough affordable Carrara Marble options for me so I made a complimentary design appointment at their San Leandro store in early February. Ana and Liz were wonderful and introduced me to a 5" marble molding I had not seen.

They gave me a quote and I got shopping. Floor&Decor has very good pricing but it's a store. You can order for your contractor to pick up but if they are out of stock, they are out of stock. I needed 18 pieces of 5"x12" molding. That turned out to be a problem. The San Leandro store had only 8 pieces and it was discontinued.

The San Leandro store called Pleasant Hill, about 30 minutes away. I drove immediately there and bought the 3 they had. The Pleasant Hill called the Milpitas store, about 45 minutes away. The next day, I drove there to buy 11 more. Now I had enough but marble has a lot of variation. Some was dark grey, other pieces bright white and others in between. Hmmm.

All the other Northern California stores were out of stock except for Fresno, about 2-1/2 hours away. I placed an order online and held my breath. The next day, Emanuel from the Fresno store called to confirm my address and told me the tile would be delivered in 7-10 days. That was cutting it close for Jesus' schedule. "Could you do me a huge favor?" Ten minutes later, I received this picture of the tiles they had in stock. I chose the ones I wanted and texted back. The very next afternoon, the door bell rang. It was FedEx with the order. Amazing customer service.

Here's the original. fireplace.

Jesus' crew got the party started.

Then it was Anthony (Wright Lighting and Fireplaces) to work his magic. One of his team brings out the old chimney lining.

And the old insert.

And then new insert downstairs into the bedroom.

Installation took two days.

Anthony shows me how to remove the screen and we made a video with instructions on how the tile should meet the new insert.

Soon after, Jesus' crew came back to finish the job. Here's tiler Emilio at work.

Carrara marble on the surround and hearth.

Next, we figured out the molding. Turns out, we didn't have enough since 4 or 5 had broken. I had wiped out the remaining stock of all Northern California Floor&Decor stores so we had to make do.

The outlets, on either side of the base, were too close to the surroud. They were moved by the electrician.

Oscar applies molding to the hearth.

We did have a little hiccup. Since my 10% overage was broken, we only had a choice of white or darker gray for that small piece in the upper right corner. I was disappointed but then I remembered old handstitched quilts. It was tradition to make one square a bit different. That gave me an idea.

I bought a small aluminum florette for $10 on Etsy. I painted it gold and bought some very sticky tape.

Last week, I found some metal hearts almost the same color. Connie had sent them to me (as earrings) years ago. I'm going to add to the florette when I have a pair of helping hands to hold them up so I can see. Problem solved.

Next month, I have a new-to-me old painting arriving for above the fireplace but that's a story for another day. Including the new bathroom half wall, bedroom walls painted, new fireplace&mantel and a few small projects, Jesus and crew were here 10 days. The electrician was here for one day and Anthony 2-1/2 days to do the gas ginsert. Not bad for the project. I'll be back in two weeks with my finished bedroom. In the meantime, enjoy your Sunday!