We can't Help it..

OK, it's true. We couldn't sit still for 5 minutes without ripping down a few walls. We just needed to see what was underneath! First up? The fireplace!

When we first looked at this house, we speculated what would be underneath the wood planking over the fireplace. Surprise! It's red-painted bricks (why?)!

The good news is that we will likely be painting the fireplace white to open the space up, and though the red will be tough to cover, it's not impossible. 

The mantle also came down very easily (vs the bolt-studded mantle we took down over the summer!) so there was no heavy work there. 

The real challenge will be taking out the wood stove and removing the circular surround. We want to scale the fireplace back and put in a nice marble stone to make everything feel a little lighter. 

Also... what's the deal with that fire-tending closet? No clue what we're going to do there. Below are some ideas we have for the fireplace!