My house had this fireplace when I bought it. I never really cared for the rock and mantle.



So, one day a couple of weeks ago my wife came home to a surprise:




I decided to run the new fireplace up to the ceiling.

Lath, scratchcoat, mess, heavy stone mantle, fun, frustration, and success:







The insert I bought off of Craigslist for $400. It was kinda beat up and had some pretty ugly/dated yellow and brown ceramic tile on it. I took it apart, cleaned the fans, sanded it down, wetsanded the glass, refinished it and retiled it.

Total project cost = Appx $1000.00

Cost to have it all done professionally would have likely ran appx $6,000. Not bad for a noob, I'm happy w/ the results.

Just thought I'd share -

 

looks much better than what was there before!!

 

that looks great!

 

Great job, man! Looks really good. And yes, MUCH better than before.

 

I like the rough edges on the sides, not cleaned up. Adds a touch of ruggedness. Me likey!

 

Nicely done.

 

Great job! And wise going with the insert. A plain fireplace is pretty useless for heating a house.

I use a wood stove but up here Building Codes require a new stove when buying/selling/remodeling a house due to a bad inversion layer in the winter (and a sizeable number that still heat with wood). What surprised me about the new stoves is how efficient they are. The 04 firebox is smaller so its hard to stuff and bank at night like the old 81 Earth stoves, but the new ones burn so much better that I go thru about 30-40% less wood! (And you hardly ever see smoke out the chimney as it burns so efficient.)