Rosie, itâÂÂs a regular old wood burning fireplace. But thanks for the question. Will it be ok to lower the mantle since itâÂÂs a regular fireplace? Who would I ask to find out? I love the ideas you have for your fireplace!!! And you are 100% correct! There is not enough squirrels on fireplaces in this world! And I want pictures when you are done! O.M.G. catmom. I am completely, absolutely, mouth-gaping-open floored! I love that. ItâÂÂs fabulous, dramatic and absolutely beautiful!! I didnâÂÂt want to look away to type this!! Fabulous job! Kudos to you for biting the bullet and going for it and such a reward!! Do you smile every time you see it? I love this idea, love, love! I am such a sucker for a dramatic piece in a room! teacats, I never thought to paint the door the wall color. But it makes perfect sense. and would help to balance that wall. oh and I really like mirrors. never had considered it there, but now it's all I can see! Nosoccermon, that link is what made me fall in love with the whitewashed look! I think if the FP had a brown or grey undertone as opposed to red it would be ok. I just donâÂÂt know how it would work with the rest of the house. Mama_goose I like your fireplace! It looks perfect in the room. I can see a resemblance between our FPs. Thank you for the visual! Oh you are all fabulous!! IâÂÂm picturing a deep grey with a silver mirror hanging! So we have a new idea in the lead! I am still throwing around the concept of a smooth surface. I feel it would detract from the fireplace feel tho. Then again it may be the perfect element. Hmm. IâÂÂm gonna have to see a pic or mock up something at the house.

Thanks everyone - yes we are keeping the red it looks great with the new tile, and gives our living room some warmth and color! The contractors are coming back to do the kitchen backsplash next week (after counters go in tomorrow) so they need to touch up some of the wall patch, there are a couple spots that need attention before we do the touch up paint. Of course it will look much better with the paint repaired but I was too excited not to share. The hearth will be easier to keep clean and it's much safer than the raised heath. In fact the doors fit perfectly this way because they would have overlapped the top more if they could not extend down below where the hearth was before.

We tiled our old fireplace and it's beautiful. What you do is frame it all out from the wall to make it all even. and instead of using drywall you use cement board, then it's firesafe and to code, at least in our city. It is not an inexpensive change however, the framing is expensive and then the tilling is also so you need to have the budget, I was surprised at the cost and time involved. But it was worth it in my house..

Hi Sierra, That is unique! And I agree with your thought, the stone is the best part. If it were me, I'd think about resurfacing the brick and tile above and below with one material to contrast in color and texture with the stone. Dark slate comes to mind. Looking around a little, soapstone might be better right by the fireplace. A medium-dark to dark gray with a low-contrast pattern might be a place to start. The trick will be finding something that compliments, but doesn't compete with the stone. (And paint the pole to match with a firebox rated paint.) Hope that helps! Doug