This week we began focusing on the fireplace surrounds as the bathroom tile work is wrapping up. Ironic, since it will 100 degrees Fahrenheit today…. Beginning in the living room, the hand glazed tiles for the fireplace surround were ordered in early June, but won’t be shipped until late August. Darn! I ordered the art tiles (below) along with the color glaze samples back in May and received them the next week… so I assumed (mistake #1) that the other tiles would be shipped quickly as well.
Alas, because of COVID-19, Motawi Tileworks in Ann Arbor, Michigan, was shut down for two months, putting them behind in fulfilling orders placed in March and April. So I must be patient… which is not my best virtue… You can see examples of tile installation of the Pine Landscape tiles at the Motawi website here.
In the master bedroom, we have the tile. Well, most of it. We are missing one corbel that somehow fell off the frontispiece. The same frontispiece that broke in half when it was being taken down from the cottage fireplace… but I digress. Anyway, at our lake cottage, which was built from 1932-1938, we remodeled and replaced the old living room fireplace that no longer functioned and took down the old carved soapstone from its surround to create a larger firebox.
Now we are trying to put humpty dumpty back together again, but in our new master bedroom. Thankfully, our tile installer, Roel, said he was up for the challenge. Thank goodness someone is… They are going to have the frontispiece (that’s a fancy word for the carved part that is right under the mantle) repaired and I’m hoping to have the gold etchings re-gilded or gold leafed. I’m not sure how the repair will turn out, but I’ve been interested in the Japanese art of kintsugi, otherwise known as golden joinery. The idea is that you highlight the repair with gold leaf, rather than trying to hide it, and it becomes part of the story of the piece. Since these carved soapstone pieces will be in our master bedroom, we may opt for the kintsugi design aesthetic if the repair is too obvious.
Finally, we come to the fireplace in the great room. Here we have the largest fireplace, with the largest chimney and largest statement – Oklahoma fieldstone. These are real pieces of stone. This ain’t no “lick and stick” stone veneer like we used at our previous home, the lodge.
Beginning outside, they installed stone on the outdoor kitchen bar, which we think will look really nice with the counter tops. When I first saw the stone being installed, I wasn’t so sure about the look, but once the grout was cleaned up, I was sold.
They also installed the stone on the outdoor chimney, creating a nice focal point on the pool courtyard.
I like how the two outside stone walls work together on the pool porch.
And finally, the same stone was installed inside on the great room fireplace. This is also the only room where we created a raised hearth.
While visiting the site last night, we decided to see how the great room fireplace mantle looks. There is a crazy story behind this mantle! I won’t go into the details now, but this is a piece of wood out of a century old barn in Ohio. I think Mark, our paint and stain master, wants us to simply seal the mantle, but I think it needs to be stained so there is some contrast from the stone. It also needs to be cut to fit.
What do you think of the three fireplace styles? Which is your favorite? I would love to hear your feedback. In the meantime, stay well and thanks for stopping by!
Hugs, Libby