It’s COLD here. I don’t know exactly when it happened, but fall seems like a distant memory now.
It’s the perfect time to tell you about a recent fireplace makeover.
Before my clients moved into this house, the family room fireplace wall looked like this:
Tres bizarre! Obviously the house’s previous owners had had a TV in the large box to the L of the fireplace. But how strange! The room had 2 compteting focal points. At least.
We had the contractor eliminate those shelves so the fireplace could take center stage. We felt the mantel was a bit too high, but we decided to leave it for a while.
Much better. But we still wanted to add some character and make the room feel cozier. A full-on fireplace makeover was in order.
Enter Tom Gross from Fireside Stone & Patio in Clarksville, MD. (His business card identifies him as “head honcho.”)
We disagreed about the overall mantel height, but because this is the PERFECT client and always defers to me :) , I won out and we brought the height down a little bit. The blue tape was SO helpful in determining the overall dimensions.
A few short weeks later, after we’d visited the showroom and selected the stone and mantel and hearth slabs…
…ta DA! I know it’s a little hard to get the full effect with the Christmas decorations, but I just couldn’t wait to show you. (And have no fear: we know that chair and ottoman doesn’t belong in this room. We’re in transition.)
It looks great, and the client loves it. I’ll show you more pictures later, after we re-paint the walls. And change the window treatments. And possibly the sofas…you know what a slippery slope decorating is!
Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She has been quoted in publications from The Washington Post to Real Simple and is considered an expert on color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible.