HOW WE ADDED A REAL WORKING MARBLE FIREPLACE TO OUR 30'S HOME

AD/PR gift This blog post contains a fireplace which was kindly gifted by Stovax.

There’s something pretty special about marble. It’s timeless beauty makes it a design classic and it’s durable material means it will stand the test of time forever.

I’ve always dreamt of having a marble fireplace in our next home, no matter what period the house was, I was pretty certain I could make it work in any style as marble is so versatile.

It turns out that the next house (which is our forever house) is a 1930’s and the original fireplaces were not as desirable and certainly needed an update. There was no marble, no beautiful cast iron, not even wooden mantles. Instead we bought a house with brick fireplaces which would look more at home in my local Red Lion pub. Yes, they were original but they were not to my taste. I’m all for retaining original character, but not if it jeopardises creating the home you want, and at the end of the day it’s you who has to live there and be happy.

So, we made the decision that the main one in our lounge had to go. I had fallen in love with a Stovax Corbel Stone Mantel which I know should be more suited to a victorian property, but I don’t tend to stick to the rules when designing my home.

The veining and the corbel detail of the Stovax stone mantle was everything I had dreamt of. I opted for the Antique white marble, however it also came in a beautiful Natural Limestone which looked equally as beautiful.

I then chose a curved decorative cast iron fireplace which was also from Stovax to sit inside. It’s great that you can mix and match your cast iron inserts if buying from Stovax, or likewise choose to add a wood burner or gas fireplace instead of a working fire if you desire.

THE ORIGINAL FIREPLACE

The good thing about this fireplace was that it was a working fireplace with a perfectly good working chimney, which meant removing and replacing the old one wasn’t too much trouble. It was a 1930’s brick fireplace, but other than that I didn’t know much else about it other than the fact it looked like it had eyes and a mouth and was looking at me every-time I walked past which I couldn’t unsee.

The house was in a pretty disrepair state when we bought it, and the original fireplaces altho they were original gave me the heebie-jeebies.

The original brick 1930’s fireplace

The original brick 1930’s fireplace

THE FITTING

All the original plaster was due to be stripped back to the brick, so we set to work on doing this and removing all the bricks of the fireplace. We then added a new lintel to the wall to support the new height of the chimney as this insert was taller than the previous fireplace.

We also had the chimney swept which is really important to make sure theres nothing blocking the chimneys when firing them up. I’d always recommend getting an expert in to do this.

We then fitted new plaster board and laid the new hearth which was was laid on cement so it was firmly fixed to the floor where the existing hearth was.

The cast iron arched insert was then fitted on top of the hearth, and then the marble stone mantle was built around it.

The walls were then fully skimmed in plaster for a smooth finish, later adding wooden trim to create wall panels.

The fitting of the Stovax Cast iron arched decorative insert.

The new Stovax Victorian corbel stone mantle and decorative arched cast iron insert fitted in its new home.

We decided to make a feature out of the new stone fireplace even more so by adding lights above the fireplace from Pooky lighting. We chose some ’Firefly’ Alabaster wall lights with brass trim to finish the look off and painted the walls in Bobbi from Graham and Brown.

Stovax Corbel Stone marble Mantel with the Stovax curved decorative cast iron fireplace as a new feature in our pink lounge.

THE HEARTH

We wanted something simple in black, so we went to our local stone yard and asked if they had any off cuts. Luckily they had a piece of black engineered quartz similar size to what we wanted, so it cost us less than £50.

I’d always recommend checking with your local stone yards if they have any off cuts first as you might get a bargain.

Stovax Corbel Stone marble Mantel with the Stovax curved decorative cast iron fireplace as a new feature in our pink lounge.

And it was as simple as that. The fireplace is very heavy, so I would recommend having 2-3 people on hand to help move the stone pieces of the mantle.

We also added in skirting which looked like the original 1930’s. We got ours from Skirting World.

We absolutely love our new Stovax stone fireplace and it makes our lounge feel all pretty and cosy and was exactly how I had envisaged this room looking.

Now, roll on winter when we can fire it up.

If you have any questions or would like to see more of it in work then please leave a comment below, or contact me on my instagram Houselust.