It’s Christmas, and true to the history of my marriage, my hubby is prepping for the annual (no, semi-annual; well, actually, it’s more like quarterly) home renovation. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate what he does. But during the holidays? Really?!
A few years back, I ran out for a bit of last minute shopping on Christmas Eve. The Christmas ham was thawing in the refrigerator; desserts were cooling on the table; and the sides were waiting to be whipped up in the morning. When lo’ and behold, I returned to dress for Christmas Eve candlelight service only to find my kitchen ripped to shreds, boxes of supplies unloaded in the foyer, and the tile saw set up in the garage. I was speechless. Steve innocently responded, “I told you I was going to install a backsplash.” Of course you are!
Apparently I had missed the part of the conversation where the repairs would start on the night before company arrived.
I’ve come to expect when he’s off work, some kind of renovation will be going on.
This year is no different. Except I’ve planned for the chaos.
In Steve-the-tool-man fashion, he was itching for a project. We settled on updating our fireplace; it seemed that the mantle was a little high for the new television that he had picked up on Black Friday.
We’ve spent the past few weeks wandering through the local home improvement stores searching for the right stone and marble. Steve has researched and watched tutorials. He has studied our fireplace to determine the best course of action and the demolition starts tonight.
We (actually, I mean, HE) will be pulling down the existing mantel, removing the existing tiles around the fireplace and floor, then ripping down the sheetrock.
Next step, concrete board (needed to support the weight of the stone) will be screwed to the fireplace frame and a new tv mount installed.
The materials to be used are glacier split ledger stone with a coordinating marble. This stone color is available with prefab corners but with the metal reinforcement holding the corner pieces together, we’re slightly concerned that the corners will be thicker. Perhaps with a thin layer of mud in the crevice and a thicker layer towards the outer edges we’ll be able to float and level each one so that they are flush with the straight pieces.
Another concern is our newly refinished hand-scraped wood floors. A “lip” was installed over the edge of the existing tile; we’re hoping to be able to pull the old tile out without damaging the wood. If that works then the new marble potentially will slide back under the “lip” neatly.
Extra stone and marble are on hand for mess-ups, breakage, and color matching.
The big debate whether or not to convert the existing gas fireplace to remote start. I don’t like starting the fire with a lighter (granted the long-stem candle lighter works just fine). I’d much rather flip a switch to fire it up. It appears that the switch kit will be about $500 so hubby is trying to decide if it’s worth it. I say, yes.
Bring on the sledgehammer and let’s get this party started!
Flip the switch!!
Interesting read. I personally have never considered this type of project.