Not in my house ..... ...

Dying of curiousity; why did you have to remove the original fp and surround? I'm in a similar situation; my firebox is cracked and there was a repro colonial mantel leaning against the wall (this is a victorian) when we bought the house. I found the original soapstone mantel in the basement--painted 60's avocado green over the original faux granite finish! Yikes! And the original encaustic tiles for the surround had been pried off and parked in a cabinet in the laundry room. It's going to be a project to get that fireplace restored and safely working again, but I have hope. I'm thinking that if you decided to remove the original, there must have been a good story. So...?

Mine is totally gold :) This was before the remodel started, and shows the wall color as it should be with paint and glaze. THis shows it in mid construction (I had the floors darkened to walnut, added crown molding, and am adding a chandelier with amber glass to compliment a venetian glass collection) The walls here are missing their buff glaze: Close up of the walls:

I don't know who ate part of my sentence but the one posted makes NO sense (lol) It should have said: A "total relief"? LOL Does that mean you've found the perfect chandelier? I remember lighting being the MOST difficult (decision making) part of our remodel last year. Monica