Fireplace Design

I didn't get to work on my wall at all this weekend.  Saturday was the Stoltzfus family reunion and Sunday was too hot to allow me to turn off the A/C and work with the fan in the window.  Poor Jali and Elora would have overheated!  (But leaving on the A/C would have meant more dust circulating throughout the house).

So, I spent time working on my design for the wood paneled wall and the fireplace.

In this album it shows what I was able to uncover so far about the wall:
- Behind the wood wall there is a 6" fireplace surround made of what appears to be concrete.
- I was able to pry off the baseboard but there is a part to the wall that is one connected structure, and I'll need a carpenter involved to do this right.
- I found the code as to how much clearance is needed around the fireplace made of non-combustible materials.
- I cut out paper and taped it to the wall to give myself a visual of how much that is and therefore, approximately where the mantel would be built and how much space that would take up.

I then searched online for some examples of how I'd like the look of the fireplace to be.  Here are some examples that I pulled... probably not the final product but it gets to the general look.

1) The surround itself... My original thought was black marble, but I also found this more textured black stone that I think would look really sharp.  My one concern about the textured black stone is that it might clash with the similarly rough look of the brick on the opposite wall.  Then again - the shiny black marble tile may be too much of a contrast.  I need to spend some more time thinking about that.

Here are the samples I pulled:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/MS-International-Glacial-Black-Ledger-Panel-6-in-x-24-in-Natural-Marble-Wall-Tile-10-cases-60-sq-ft-pallet-LPNLMGLABLK624/205960155

http://www.homedepot.com/p/MS-International-Absolute-Black-12-in-x-12-in-Polished-Granite-Wall-Tile-5-sq-ft-case-THDINDBLK1212/202194774

http://www.homedepot.com/p/MS-International-Absolute-Black-3-4-in-x-12-in-Polished-Granite-Pencil-Moulding-Wall-Tile-THDW1-MP-BLA/100664327

2) The mantel... I found this picture online that is pretty close to the look I want (except the wood color would match the rest of the wall).

3) All of this should still allow for the existing sconce wiring to stay, except that I don't really like the sconces that are there now.  I'd like to find something like this to place them with, and they would frame the mantle.

http://www.uttermost.com/p-1009-galeana.aspx

I'm pretty happy with that design, and so now it is just a matter of seeing how it all unfolds and what the cost will be.  The chimney and fireplace people are going to do the work of repairing the front chimney and getting it lined and up to code on 7/30 and 7/31.  The plan is to make the first floor fireplace (the one featured in this post) a wood burning stove with its own liner and flue, etc.  The fireplaces in the two floors above that (in the bedrooms) will be converted to vented gas units.  The unit in the guest bedroom on the 2nd floor will have a gas insert with its own surround.  Something like this:  http://www.valorfireplaces.com/products/legendG35insert.php

The third floor bedroom (my bedroom) will have a coal basket unit.  Something like this (but without all the green and gold in the picture): http://www.gratefires.com/

After that work is done, I will work on getting a person in who can help with the wall work and surround and mantel.  In either case, by the fall, it should be a very "Kendra" room and a nice place to hang out and read or play a game with friends.  I plan to move the couch to the wall that will have the exposed brick and the chair to the little nook that is right around the corner to the left after coming in the front door.  I'll probably have a rug in the middle of the room, and possibly a table if I can find one of the proper size not to interfere with walking from the front door through to the rest of the house.