Home is Where the Hearth Is

I'm recycling that title (a punny one I enjoy) from an AT post I wrote the other week while I had our fireplace on the brain. The mantel basically sold me on the house, but the hearth used to be closed off with gray plaster over brick (ugly).

Eventually I'll do a proper "Before & After," but here's an in-progress shot. It's the guy who sold us our house and who, as this photo shows, has been cool enough to help us with some things after the keys switched hands. It was a dusty mess.

Our plumber ran the gas line to the fireplace, and the floor of the hearth had to be re-bricked because there was a hole down to the basement. The gas still has to be hooked up to our ventless heater, and I am trying to get over the fake log look. We're ordering a fireplace screen. Aaand, to round things out on a cute note, here's a close-up of that fox ornament from the top photo. 

Images: Charm City Home