Happy Thursday, my friends! I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend! Did you do any fun projects? We’ve been busy over at the lake house putting the final touches our new deck and outdoor fireplace. Come check out the progress!
We’ve been back and forth to the lake house recently and enjoying our newly covered deck. It’s been especially nice since we’ve had SO much rain and cool weather! To back track a bit, a few months ago, we had our contractor and his crew remove the old deck and rebuild a larger and more sturdy deck. Once the base of the deck was in place, they began on the outdoor fireplace! It started with a large base of concrete blocks….
As construction of the fireplace progressed, they filled in the base with layers of cinder blocks and concrete. We estimated they used around 1500 concrete blocks total!
Here is a glimpse of the covered deck and the fireplace nearly completed. The cinder blocks go from the ground below to above the roof line.
And here is how the fireplace looks currently. There is a chimney cap on top and the fireplace is fully functional. But, we are still anxious to complete the project. Here’s the plan!
Yesterday my husband and I drove to Charlotte to pick out the stone for the fireplace. We chose a color called Gray Rubble. It’s a stacked stone in mostly gray and beige and should work nicely with the gray on the house and the wood deck. The stone will be glued and stacked as shown, with no grout. The mason will install the stone around 3 sides of the fireplace and stucco underneath the deck. And did you know you need to buy corner pieces for the ones that wrap around the corners? I guess I never really gave it much thought, but the corner pieces need to be ordered separately.
We’ve hired an experienced contractor to install the stone and mantle for us. After much debate, we decided this project was above our pay grade and best left to the professionals.
For the top of the hearth, we chose a blue stone. Of course my mind immediately goes to when our grandson starts walking and this hearth will be a scary height for a toddler. (And made of irregular stone.) I think of this because as a baby, his Daddy tumbled and hit his head on our hearth and had to have 3 stitches. When our grandson is mobile, we will probably bubble wrap the entire deck and have him wear a helmet!
This is the stump of the tree we had removed from the center of the old deck. We plan to have a mantle made from this as a tribute.
And check out this beautiful corbel! It’s one of a set I’ve had in my stash for years waiting for just the right project. They are originally from Restoration Hardware but I bought them at a consignment shop in Pennsylvania. I think they will look fabulous on our new fireplace!
We are so excited to finally see a light at the end of the tunnel on this project. Fingers crossed it all will come together in the next week or so. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on our progress. We are secretly hoping we can find a better deal on the stone, but if push comes to shove, we’ll go with what we found yesterday. It’s going to be expensive but well worth the investment in the end! I foresee many, many fun filled days and nights with family and friends right here!
Thanks for stopping by! Let’s chat again soon, okay? xoxo Dell