The Chimney

In one corner of the kitchen, the chimney runs up from the basement along one of the walls. It was covered with plaster, and had a hole at the top where, at some point, a stove vent went out. This hole was completely open when we found it, which meant that whenever the previous home owner used the woodstove (located in the room on the other side of the chimney), it would literally pump the smoke in between the layers of ceiling in the kitchen! I am amazed she didn't asphixiate! (sp?). Anyway, the original idea (after our friend Jeremy closed off the hole) was to slap drywall over it and call it good. However, when Jeff saw some of the exposed brick, he got the idea in his head that it would be great to have the brick exposed as a design element in the kitchen. Soooo, enter the chissel and hammer...

3 hours, several bruises (I kept missing and hitting my hands instead of the chissel...), and quite a mess later, this is where we were...

So this gives you a pretty good idea of where we currently stand. The bricks will have to be scrubbed with a wire brush and solution to take off the remaining plaster dust. Then, there are several spots where the grout will need to be touched up (done with the grout in a bag and squeezed out like frosting so it only goes where we want it. Finally, we will need to get some salvage brick in the same style/ color as the existing brick. I will need to cut down pieces and grout them in to fill the hole at the top and make it look like part of the rest of the chimney. We're making progress though... :-)