We have known for awhile that there was a fireplace behind the wall in our dining room. The chimney kind of gave it away but we were also able to see some of the brick through a cabinet in our laundry room on the opposite side of the wall. Uncovering the fireplace was one of those "one day" projects that we just never took the time or energy to tackle.
After refinishing our hardwood floors, we were left with a slab of plywood surrounded around some nice trim work. We left the spot unfinished in hopes that we would uncover the fireplace. I was pleasantly surprised that just a week after we completed the floors, my kind and hardworking husband was ready to tackle the fireplace. It caught me by surprise and also made me a little nervous...I mean we had just finished our floors after living months with an unfinished project! Having the house back in order was a treat! But as marriage and time has taught me, when my husband wants to work on a project for me, I need to let him do it!
So we went at it. Brent went over to his parent's house and measured their fireplace getting an estimate for what size it might be. He measured lines to size and began cutting into the wall. His intentions behind this was that just in case the fireplace was a total mess, we could easily place the piece of wall we took out back in without a ton of patchwork. Smart guy he is.
He even makes me work. I was a nervous wreck. He took a picture and I was about done. I don't want to be trusted with putting giant holes in our walls.
Once we had the rectangle cut out, we carefully wiggled that thing out.
Again, so scary.
And to our delight, there it was. A beautiful torn up fireplace. Much like the carpet we previously had, the person who flipped our house thought we would be better off without it. Though I suppose half the joy of having these things is discovering them ourselves.
With all the wood taken out and dust cleaned out, she doesn't look half bad.
Out came the plywood and we had our little fireplace!
And a few weeks later, she is still looking exactly the same. I did some "research" and have settled on a look I like. We are planning on keeping it an open wood burning fireplace (versus an insert). I wanted the nostalgia of an old fireplace while still having on opening to decorate with during the non- wood burning months of the year. We want to build a thick white mantel with custom book case built ins. It may be awhile until that happens, but I am hopeful that it will be well worth it in the end!
At the end of the day, these projects have me falling back in love with our home. After five years of living here, it is such a joy to uncover these little gems. We feel so lucky to have them. But as I have spent years dreaming and driving around looking at other dream homes, I am coming to realize our current home is becoming our dream home.
We love our neighbors and neighborhood SO much. That is one thing a home can never guarantee. But as we transform our existing home into one that functions well for our life as well as brings back some of the original beauty (with our own spin on it) I cannot help but find contentment in believing this could be...our forever home.
