How To Turn A Photo Into A Fireplace
Albert Einstein once said “The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” Well I’ve never been very good at keeping secrets or understanding geniuses when they say stuff so let me share how we ended up with an extraordinary fireplace area in our living room.
My wife and I know what we like when we see it but our heads don’t exactly gush forth amazing interior design ideas. So, we turned to Houzz.com for inspiration. It took all of five minutes of browsing photos on Houzz to find a fireplace area we both really liked and looked amazingly similar to our space. And from reading comments people made on the Houzz photo, we found out exactly what materials were used.
The Fireplace
There was an existing gas fireplace in the space to be renovated but we wanted to follow the look of the Houzz photo as closely as possible. We chose a Bayport 41 by Kozy Heat. Kozy Heat has several frame choices for the unit and it was evident that the Clean Face frame was the way to go to get that clean, precise edge.
The Stone
The stone in the Houzz photo, and the stone we chose, is Chardonnay Alpine Ledgestone by Boral. This is a beautiful manufactured stone but you’d swear it was the real deal. We love how the rustic look of stacked ledge-stone compliments the reclaimed wood mantel. Speaking of the mantel, Chuck Iverson from Hebron Brick Supply custom made that mantel for us. The timber came from Hebron Brick Company’s old brick plant that was torn down a few years ago. Chuck crafted an outstanding mantel from that old beam that compliments the colors going on in the stone as well as pieces of furniture we have in the space. And we think having a piece of North Dakota history in our living room is legendary.
The Hearth
For the hearth stone, we wanted something with cleaner lines than the segmented hearth in the Houzz photo. Hebron came through for us again with a single slab of honed Cottonwood Kansas Limestone by US Stone. We also used that same stone behind the sconces – a big improvement over the wrong-sized wood mounts in the Houzz photo. Hebron Brick Supply custom cut all the limestone and it came out perfect. By the way, those wall sconces are Hudson Valley Selkirk 642-OB that we were able to purchase online.
Finally, the tile down the center is a beautiful, iridescent porcelain tile – Paradox Orange from RAK ceramics. We discovered that this tile is manufactured in Saudi Arabia and is not carried anywhere in the United States. Luckily we live in North Dakota and shipping a few pieces from a distributor in Canada wasn’t all that expensive. Again, Hebron went out of their way to help us get that tile even though they did not carry it.
Click over to the Design Inspirations page and start your own reno-venture.
