Something about making over a fireplace always seems daunting to me. I think it's all the tile or brick work that makes me feel I should leave it to a professional, but after seeing Heather's surprisingly smart and simple fireplace facelift at Home Modern I'm gonna take a deeper look at it from now on.
Since Heather's home was built in 1909 she knew that the fireplace that came with the house was an obvious remodel and decided to start chipping away at it to take a peek at what was underneath. To her delight she fell in love with the original charming tile that she uncovered below the surface. After having her way at it with a chisel, rubber mallet and some elbow grease she found herself with a brand new dramatic fireplace that seems to have inspired the entire rest of the room. I think this is a great lesson that a look into the past may be just the thing you need to ensure a bright and beautiful future. Great job Heather!
See the rest of Heather's fireplace makeunder at Home Modern.
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wow!
Great fireplace, and I especially adore the rug!
Awesome!
That looks great!
I don't know. I miss the mantle but I love how it brightens up the room.
wow this is amazing!!! good job.
Very nice!
So fresh--so modern! A+ :)
Beautiful!
I love the foil of the traditional italianate tiles against the modern textiles and silhouettes. Bravo!
How does the "after" picture have an elevated hearth using original tile? Looks great! Just curious.
Holy crumb... what a find! I love it - worth the expenditure of elbow grease, certainly. :)
(Sandy Floors, the before picture has an elevated hearth as well, it's just a bit harder to spot in the black)
I thought we just saw this, like, a month ago?
Best! Makeover! Ever!
Wow, this is truly lovely! And I love that rug - I was flirting with the idea of getting it and seeing it in this space makes me really consider it more seriously!
Just gorgeous - how lucky to uncover such fabulous tile!!!
Oh wow!! Beautiful! I recently pulled up the carpet in my home (built in 1989). All I got was bare concrete. LOL! I would have loved to find something beautiful like this "hiding" in my home! Of course, I wasn't expecting anything - actually I was more hoping there weren't any huge cracks hiding under there! ;-)
wow, that's amazing. confused though, doesn't it all of a sudden seem raised and in relief from the wall? looks like an add on....?
I love this before/after because I could definitely see the after as a before and the owner making a cry for help. The mirror is a perfect match for the tile. Sometimes it all depends on attitude and creativity. And by sometimes, I mean not all the time.
And that sunny corner nook! Oh my! =)
I agree how DOES the hearth become elevated by simply exposing the original tile? I visited the post as well and didin't see the answer...
I guess it was like that before & you can't tell v well from the photo. I can't believe anyone would ever tile over that.
What a transformation!!!
What an amazing find! Bravo, Heather, for removing the overlying materials and rescuing this beautiful tiled fireplace. I love how the tile pattern works so well with the patterns in your textiles!
For those of you who think it looks like the hearth has risen, I hasn't. Just look more closely at the before picture and you can see that the black fireplace had a raised hearth too. It's not in relief either. She just removed the framework designed to disguise the original's bump-out.
*Look at the ceiling molding in the before shot.
I love it!
Fantastic transformation!
1,000 wows!
The before is a prime example of what I hate about suburban cookie cutter homogenized living.
The after is what I always close mindedly(not a word) ignore as a possibility. Great job.
Looks great! If you are having trouble seeing the raised hearth, look at the right side of the original photo. The glare in the left side of picture does make it look like a flat hearth, but look on the right side and you will see that it's raised.
Yikes. Unearthing that gorgeous original tile must have felt like finding buried treasure... which indeed it was!
I, too, was stumped at first by the raised hearth. It's almost an optical illusion, but if you look to the bottom right in the 'before' shot, it becomes more evident, as tandreams points out.
Only thing I might do is add a mantle eventually. No rush, though -- it looks stunning as is.
Hi everyone, it's Heather from home-modern.com. Thanks for all of your wonderful comments about the fireplace's makeunder. It was a huge (and heavy) job, but we love the results.
To answer some of the questions and comments:
1) The hearth is not raised in the "After" shot, although it's hard to see among the sea of green tiles, which we removed from the face of the fireplace, the raised hearth and the surrounding floor (it was taking over!).
2) We'd love to put a mantle on it someday. We're torn between a thick, natural wood slab that we could salvage and repurpose, or a more vintage Victorian mantle we could gloss paint. We settled on the slick white paint over the top of it to cover the cement (and some glue remnants) and make it palatable for our July house wedding.
If you have any other questions about the project, feel free to comment on any of my homepage posts about the project.
Thanks everyone!
Heather
Everyone should be so lucky to find something so wonderful lurking beneath a remodel...so beautiful!
I DREAM of the day when I will find something half this amazing underneath the 'improvements' (vinyl siding, acoustic tile ceilings, etc.) to my 200+ yr. old farmhouse.
Lucky you!!!
Great job! I can't believe someone would cover up that gorgeous tile with that boring black.
Sorry, boaring not boring.
Wow - what an amazing find. When we've pulled up something in our house, it was usually to discover something that the builder did wrong- never anything so wonderful. Know this was a lot of work - but well worth it!
I'm speechless - What a serendipitous discovery!
Don't we all wish that we found amazing things underneath it all? Most of us just find a bigger mess, and she found a genuine treasure!
wow! who on earth would cover that pretty tile!? Home remodels on 'vintage' and or historic homes to make more mass appealing usually is a travesty.
great job!
Can't believe that someone would cover up that fantastic tilework!
no mantle needed....it'd perfect as is. Incredible find!
I think that the flat tile around the raised hearth is what is most confusing when it comes to disguising the raised hearth in the first photo. It's great luck that the floor was intact underneath! I think a wood slab would look fabulous!
It is gorgeous as is without a mantle. I don't find all the vases on it attractive. It looks better without them.
Actually you have a good eye because when I look at the tiles by themselves they aren't that pretty but the way you have incorporated them with the modern decor makes them look amazing.
@sarahjade, I think this was on Design Sponge before, maybe your read that blog too?
The rug reminds me of AT's logo
I'm in love!
I know I'll get pooped on for saying this, but it's really refreshing to see something old being restored for a change, instead of painted over (or worse, shabby chic'd!), etc.
Wow, the "before before" was better than the "before" haha Love the tiles you discovered :)
Beautiful
I love this before and after. My home was built in 1918, and sadly, the previous owners dismantled the original brick fireplace brick by brick and replaced it with a faux gas one with faux stone work. :( What a find you have there! Great job!
I do like it a lot, but I have to agree with Tracy333: I miss the mantle.
I love the original tile. At least the previous owners did not commit a total sacrilegious crime and tear it all out in the late 80s/early 90s when they put in the gross black tile. (Remember that terrible time in home decor and fashion?)
And I would not miss the mantle at all. They tend to get too cluttered for my liking.
where is the rug from??? i love it!
i am in love with that tile. anyone know if the pattern has a specific name that i might google? i want those tiles, or some very like it, on my fireplace. like now.