The Fireplace...

Hello friends - hope your new year is off to a fantastic start.  First, I want to say thank you to all of you who have had such nice things to say as I've shown you around some of our new home.  I'm finding out that getting this house all put together - is gonna take a long time - so I appreciate your forgiveness and oversight of the many things that are yet to be done.  There are curtains to be sewn, lots of furniture to be found, things to be painted - but that is all a part of the process - and I'm enjoying it more all of the time. 

But today, I thought I'd let you look in on the fireplace.  I must admit - I did not necessarily want a fireplace - I was afraid it would make things really dark in the den but after the mantle was given to us as a gift from Shaun's late father, I couldn't say no nor did I not want to incorporate such a neat piece of family history into our new farmhouse.

 You may recall me posting this picture nearly a year ago - showing you the condition of the mantle.  It had been stored overhead in the barn for nearly 50 years.  Shaun's dad had rescued it from his grandparents home before it had been tore down.  After some research - we figured out that it was 150+ years old and made of chestnut.  Chestnut trees were wiped out in our part of the country I believe back in the 40's due to a disease.  So with that being said - we knew we could not paint it.  I wanted to paint it white - but I was threatened - hehe - by many people, like my cabinet man, my dad and my hubby - that I just couldn't paint such a great piece.  I suppose I lost that battle - but that is o.k. - there are many reasons why it was so special just the way it was.

 Our "stone" guy, David, used the same stone that we used on the outside of the house around the fireplace.  It kind of ties the two together.

 Here is one of the few imperfections in the wood - we figure it is a water stain from being stored next to the roof in the barn.  After a lot of sanding  - it still wanted to stick around - so we just left it - it really doesn't bother us a bit - just adds more character.

 Here you can see the wide width of the boards on the base - the boards measure a foot wide.

 So there it is - a great gift from our beloved Poppa - whom we miss so much.  He would have so loved to have seen this in our new home.  

But each time we see it - we think of Glen and the many gifts he gave us.  What a great piece of family history to incorporate into our home.  Thanks Poppa.