On this publish: Trying to design a stone hearth? I’m sharing the “earlier than” and “after” of our stone veneer hearth and the design selections you have to be fascinated about when planning your personal!
And after portray the bookcases and overlaying our once-brick hearth with stone veneer, we remodeled it into this stacked stone hearth we love:
I assumed that reworking our hearth can be so simple as strolling into the showroom of the fireside/stone veneer vendor, selecting my stone, and scheduling the set up however this seemingly simple activity rapidly grew to become fairly irritating & time-consuming. All of it may have been prevented if going into the undertaking I had details about the alternatives I would wish to make and somewhat steering on the right way to make them. My objective with this publish is to make the method a lot simpler for any of you leaping into an identical undertaking. I’ve included 5 vital issues to think about when designing a stone hearth:
1. Manufactured vs. Pure Stone Veneer for Your Hearth
One of many important selections you’ll need to make is whether or not you wish to use manufactured or pure stone. The professionals of manufactured (also referred to as “cultured”) stone are that it’s a lot cheaper than pure stone and since it’s lighter than pure stone, it’s additionally less complicated and cheaper to put in. The professional of pure stone is its magnificence – there may be variation in every stone and the tip product is attractive. In case you have a big finances, pure stone is a superb selection and will be the method so that you can go however I selected manufactured stone veneer to remain inside my finances. Contemplating the sum of money I saved and the way shut my manufactured stone veneer seems to be to the “actual factor”, I’m very pleased with my choice.
2. Selecting the Fashion and Shade of Hearth Stone
There are numerous completely different kinds of stone to select from together with fieldstone, stacked stone like on this lovely hearth under which you can see extra of {here}:
river rock, and lots of others. It’s also possible to use a mixture of two several types of stone comparable to fieldstone and ledgestone. Every model of manufactured stone is available in a number of shade choices, making the vary of selections mind-boggling. I ended up selecting a ledgestone (StoneCraft Industries’ Ledgestone) in heat shades of grey and tan (“Pennsylvania” shade):
One of the best ways to decide on the color and style of stone is to go to a couple of showrooms which have fireplaces on show with numerous stone choices. When you’ve narrowed down your alternatives by taking into account the colours and elegance of your own home, ask to borrow some pattern boards so as to see how the stone seems to be in your house. If the showroom doesn’t have pattern boards that they mortgage out, ask when you can borrow a number of items of stone (get a very good selection in dimension and shade) for every of your potential choices.
Additionally when you select stacked stone, you should determine whether or not you need “dry” stacked stone or stone with mortar exhibiting between the stones. This pic reveals each – stacked stone with mortar on the prime and dry stacked stone on the backside:
3. Contemplate Keystones or Different Stone Trim
One of the best ways to determine whether or not to include keystones or different stone trim into your hearth design is to hunt inspiration on-line and in hearth showrooms. Whereas I selected a fundamental structure with out keystones or different stone trim, you possibly can selected to do a keystone plus a row of accent stones above the fireside opening,
a easy arch design,
one lengthy, single stone above the fireside opening , or another design/sample of trim stone which you can dream up. My recommendation – hold it easy with both no keystones/trim or a easy design.
4. Mantel or No Mantel and, If So, What Sort?
For those who’d wish to have a mantel, it’s ideally put in along side the stone veneer so this choice ought to be made together with the number of your stone. There are a number of completely different supplies that can be utilized to create a mantel, comparable to stone, painted wooden, or pure or stained wooden. My hearth clearly has no mantel and I trip about whether or not that was the most effective choice or not. I have already got a lot shelving surrounding it that I didn’t want a mantel for displaying something and I do just like the extra streamlined look however it undoubtedly can be good to have a mantel to embellish for the vacations!
5. Determine on the Design of Your Fireplace
A lot of the stone veneer producers carry hearthstones designed to coordinate along with your chosen stone veneer. Nonetheless, beware – the hearthstones that have been meant to go along with the stone veneer that I selected have been ugly and pretend wanting. The lesson right here is to be sure you ask to see the coordinating hearthstones and never simply assume that they may look simply pretty much as good because the stone veneer you selected! For those who don’t like what you see, store round – I used to be capable of finding hearthstones that I favored from a distinct producer:
Additionally take into account the way you need your hearthstones laid – you’ll be able to lay them the everyday method like I did or select to have them damaged up with mortar in between the items:
An alternative choice to think about is utilizing pure stone for the fireplace even when you used manufactured stone veneer for the remainder of the fireside. When pure stone is used, it’s usually in a big slab of a fabric comparable to bluestone. The pure stone prices greater than manufactured hearthstones however for many fireplaces it’s not too giant of an space so the distinction in price could also be doable.
For these of you embarking on a stone hearth rework undertaking, I hope you discovered this publish to be useful. In case you have a fire with shelving on either side of it like mine, one other publish you would possibly discover to be useful is {this publish} with easy recommendations on adorning your bookshelves!
