The “Toots-if-ication” of a Fireplace.

A while back I posted that I went to my parent’s farm and did a little junkin’. I did show you the sheds and the yard…but I didn’t show you the junk I got. Why? - well funny you should ask…It’s because I wanted to wait to share the before and the after of the junk…showing the before would have made you just shake your heads and wonder if I had lost my mind…ha-ha

Remember I shared a few of the little sheds out at the farm? This one is the shed I will focus my attention on today.

AHHHHH….a gold mine!!! In this shed there are about a million things I would love to get my hands on…for some …looking at this sight is cause for anxiety or worse…but to others (including me) this is inspiration unlimited!
Just look at all those projects! I am going to show you my haul…and what happened to it all.

Yes!!! This is an old firebox out of the old house. It is over 100 years old….and it is mine now!
I dug it out…

and gave it a bit of a paint job.
Then….

I also brought home the mantle from the fireplace of the same old house. Here is the original look….

It wasn’t in the best shape….paint drips and damage all over the place made it a treasure in disguise…

They would not come off easily…so I had my work cut out for me.

I liked the shape of it…but the way the stain had aged…It needed a bit of work. So I sanded most of it down slightly and just touched it up a little bit…”Tootsie style”

I made it sort of match the dining room table and chairs that I just finished…because it is going to be in the very next room…I did not touch the very middle section there that appears so dark in this photo…I wanted to leave some of the original patina showing.
Then…I busted the firebox!

Yes….yes I did. I broke it into several pieces by accident! ha-ha. So…I had to use some JB Weld to put it back together.

I had quite a bit of alteration to do to the firebox in order to make this project work. I had to use my angle grinder and three metal grinding discs to grind out the entire back part of this piece.

It is not the prettiest looking job….but it doesn’t matter…it won’t be seen anyways.

I made a platform and side plates to go around the firebox and a top to make the mantle fill a corner.

I didn’t have any tiles kicking around…but I did have some embossed wall paper….good enough!

I put the wall paper all the way around the outer edges of the surround to make it look like tiles…

Painted the embossed wall paper…

Put a nice coat of stone effects spray paint on the firebox….and then waited ( for what felt like years) for the paint to dry.

When it was dry enough to handle…I put it inside the mantle and surround that I had built. It FIT!!! (thank Goodness…I can’t imagine the fit I would have had if it had not…I worked my butt off to design this thing! ha-ha)

Next!!! The ELECTRIC fireplace insert that I had in the garage….
This insert is the reason for all the grinding on the inside of the firebox. Cast iron is a nasty thing to grind too…by the way. But…the fit is perfect now!!!

Plug it in and take a test run! This is going to be the heat for the sunroom over the cold winter months. I figure it will be a more attractive solution than the little space heater I have used in past years….I like it!

NEXT!!! I pulled a whole bunch of these heating grates out of the shed…my they are also over 100 years old…they came from the old house too…
I was soooo surprised to see how pretty they are after they had the rust removed and were cleaned up….I thought I’d use them to accessorize with…

Ta-DA!!!! I accessorized my little heart out! See how lovely the grates are?

How about a few more shots?

I put the little chairs that I made earlier this year on each side…I think they suit it nicely. I built a little thing for the floor in front of the fireplace…to give it a sense of authenticity, added a couple little logs (also from the farm…ha-ha) and I think I am done!

A shot in the evening…(ignore the cord in the floor there…I had a fan helping cure the paint a little more…

And that is how the fireplace in my house came to be!
The whole thing is portable…can be moved anywhere if I want to…and the best part? IT IS ALL MADE BY HAND…BY ME!
Wait till you see the rest of my haul that trip….I just need to find time. Having lots of company, hockey school, back to school shopping, and a few other things are keeping me off the computer and on the go lately.
This week is going to be very hectic in my house…and probably very stressful…bear with me…I’m working on getting around to visit.
Until next we meet….hugs and smiles!!!- and to those three who just can’t get me off their minds….who admire and miss me when I’m not with them…winks!!! *) *) *) (you know who you are)
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`*.¸.*´Tootsie ¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.
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