Need fireplace finish ideas
I’ve run out of ideas here. We’re redoing the kitchen and dining (entire garden floor) in a sort of vintage style with white shaker style cabinets, open shelving, soapstone counters, subway tile backsplash, farmhouse sink. There is a bathroom in the back with white subway tile walls and black and white hex tile floor. The…
I’ve run out of ideas here. We’re redoing the kitchen and dining (entire garden floor) in a sort of vintage style with white shaker style cabinets, open shelving, soapstone counters, subway tile backsplash, farmhouse sink. There is a bathroom in the back with white subway tile walls and black and white hex tile floor. The beams are lightly (about 1/2 “) exposed and the floor will be a rich terracotta colored porcelain tile. There is a chimney in the dining area (the entire floor is open floor plan) which is lined and I plan to install a cast iron wood burning stove in front of it.
I cannot decide how to finish that chimney. Right now it has cement board (Durock) on it with metal studs behind.
I went through thinking about brick veneer (the original chimney brick was in really bad shape and could not be exposed, but maybe I should have had ‘new’ brick laid, anyways too late now; also see www.brickit.com), white subway tile with cobalt blue accents and borders and some blue handpainted tile accents (sort of a Delft style chimney, see pic) but thought that might be too kitchen-ey for the dining area, terracotta colored tile, soapstone tiles, slate tiles, flat slate slabs, etc. and cannot come up with any decisions. I do not like granite, but could deal with marble, however the stove might discolor it. And modern is not really my aesthetic.
Anyone dealt with the same problem? Any pics?
Happened to be on This Old House site today and realized that you might find fireplace finish ideas there: http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/
As to tiles, the wonderful selection at these two sites will make it hard to choose: http://www.historicstyle.com/
http://www.artsandcraftstile.com/
Cast iron wood stoves are readily available.
See virtually any site that sells heating for cabins, for example:
http://www.vogelzang.com/cast-iron-stoves.htm
Heaters + Stoves at: http://www.northerntool.com/
http://www.vermontcastings.com/
Thanks all very much for all the ideas! And keep more coming.
This is our basement/ garden floor (these houses have no cellars). There was probably a coal stove (we still find lumps of coal in the backyard when we dig, since it was probably delivered through the alley at the back of the house) at some point in this location, since that was what heated the house through the ‘fireplaces’ (which were heat registers more than any kind of real FPs) before the radiators were put in (house dates to around latter half of 19th century). I’m trying to recreate that.
WTbound: I did look at the tiles. Nothing grabbed me, but I will look again. Thanks for the ref.
Mopar: Mantel is a great idea, however, the stove pipe enters the chimney at about 36 ” from floor which is too high (the openings in the mantels we have are about 28″ from the floor). I think the steel plate stoves are gross, but the cast iron are quite ornate and traditional looking.
Brooklyngreene: Great suggestions. Might be a little late for a masonry heater, but support should not be an issue since it would sit on the slab. I also felt it would have a too large footprint and might be too warm for the area (about 550 sq ft). I have seen the sites you mention. Soapstonestoves at http://www.woodstove.com are great, but they are all catalytic, which get real hot and also do not have such a great flame as the non-cats (see http://www.hearthstonestoves.com/wood-stoves/stove-details?product_id=4, who also have two noncatalytic soapstone stoves. They have a showroom in NJ). The Jotul (small one) seemed cute, but what is with the narrow side facing the front? Seems like it should be the other way and hug the wall instead of jutting out in to the room. My other issue with soapstone was that I want to be able to cook on the stove, stews, soups, etc. and soapstone does not get that hot. Also, even though these manufacturers advertise soapstone stoves as retaining heat, etc. the mass of a few soapstone slabs or tiles on the stove is not so great that it can keep a room warm for hours like a masonry heater.
werner: i don’t like the look of fp inserts.
Here’s what I am thinking of doing:
btw, check this out for a SEXY stove:
http://www.esse.com/cookers/cookers/multifuel.html; only it costs $4K
They sell soapstone tiles/ scrap slabs at M. Texeira in NJ where I plan to get my countertop. I may get some and coverthe wall behind the stove with those (I also like the blank wall suggestion). They should absorb heat from the stove when it is on and although they may lose some to the space behind the wall, they will also radiate heat into the room when the fire has died. And the mass will be much greater than a soapstone stove (although less than a masonry heater).
And soapstone when oiled turns black which would look like a stone slate ‘mantel’.
What do you think?
can do fireplace insert too. then it’s like fireplace but with efficiency of stove.
I’ve always found stoves really ugly. And it’s hard to imagine space won’t be an issue in a row house. But if you are going with a stove, the traditional treatment would be just a blank wall with the stove coming out of it. OR a fireplace and mantle with no stove.
Did you buy or order the stove already? If not, why not scrap the cast iron stove idea? Indeed, even though we thought about Jotul’s smallest cast stove which is kind of cute for one room, we are leaning toward a soapstone stove from New Hampshire. They’re fairly nice and hold the heat. Cast iron tends to overheat the space very quickly and is a bit like steam heating where the room oscillates between sweltering and a touch too cold. It appears soapstone stoves are cleaner burning as well.
For tiling ideas that are not too expensive and really fun, check out the following companies webpage on tiles. There are lots of links to click on to see all of their available stock:
http://www.gascoals.net/Accessories/EnglishTiles/tabid/528/Default.aspx
Personally…
What I would really, really like and have done a lot of research on would be a built-in masonry stove. Although some of the examples at http://heatkit.com/ are a bit ghastly, have a look. Masonry stoves are extremely efficient. Like the free-standing soapstone stoves from NH, they have high combustion temperatures. In fact, I think the big masonry stoves burn hotter and are cleaner than the free-standing small soapstone stoves.
Masonry stoves can be built into the fireplace/chimney, more or less, so the mass of all that masonry is used as a heat sink and it does not need to protrude way out into the room as a freestanding stove might, but they may require a solid base to be built up from the basement floor off a footing. They can be tiled and look more “old world” like the tiled stoves in Germany.
Of course, they entail much more expense, time, AND you might have to have a whole base thing built up from the basement to support it…so, guess what. It’s not happening tomorrow, right?! Would be nice though because they can slowly heat a very large area, keep the area temperatures stable, provide hot water if set up to do so, AND, of course, bake and cook food/bread/pizza. Radiant heat is lovely. Where room permits, these masonry stoves can have heated benches/seating…VERY nice!!!
Fancy soapsone versions (but also kind of bourgeois-ugly) of masonry stove are available from Tulikivi out of Finland which has some of the best soapstone being mined apparently: http://www.tulikivi.com
We looked at them and friends have one so have seen one up close in operation but decided Tulikivi would not really be right in a Brooklyn townhouse
…But I do encourage you check out the freestanding soapstone stoves from NH at http://www.woodstove.com. They’ve got a couple of cute stoves that might work.
Have fun!!! Just get a good chimney company that really knows what they’re doing and think about a flue fan and cap.
ms bg
Why not put in a fireplace mantle like it probably had originally? One in keeping with the original style of the house?
We redid a chimney/surround with handmade tiles by a guy named Andru in Williamsburg (Mudra Studios). Great guy and did an amazing job recreating the vintage greenish subway tiles of the old brownstone surrounds. Maybe check out his website and see if that interests you?