The Fireplace is in!

I allowed John to do this post ;)  He originally started this blog, but I have kept up with it, but this post is all his !

When Nola and I were house hunting about 7 years ago there were two things on our wish list.  A master bedroom big enough from our king size bed and a fireplace.  A real fireplace, where you chop the wood, carefully build a fire and then get to watch it burn.  Nothing smells like a woodburning fireplace.

The house we picked had room for the bed and many other things going for it, but it didn't have a fireplace.  We assured ourselves that we could just add one.  While it only took 7 years but now we have it.  Here are some pictures of the build.

We started out by knocking a hole in the wall

Then we built the enclosure for the fireplace

Then Nola talked me into painting most of the upstairs

Here is the unit sitting in the middle of the living room on the day of the install

Here it is installed in the hole

Last Saturday Dad and I laid the hearth and put up all the stone.  Cutting stone sure makes a mess but I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

Our first Fire.  Mom and Dad brought us some wood from the cottage to get us started.  Thanks.

Here's Hudson checking it out

One last picture.  Note the coal pail on the hearth contributed by Nola's dad.  As a kid he actually used it to shovel coal.  Now it will be used to bring in the wood.  All that's left is to buy the fireplace tools.

Thanks to Dad for his help in every step of the build.