This morning we lugged the fireplace mantle out to the back of the truck and drove the short distance to our client’s newly renovated house. We had to do a teeny bit of surgery (now invisible) to the brickwork and it took four of us to heft it into place. It looks great in it’s permanent home! The home owners were delighted this last piece was now in it’s place and with it the last of the construction and dust. We hope they enjoy it for many years to come!
Fireproof mantle
It isn’t often we do projects for private homes. We were recently contacted by a someone who was renovating their house. They wanted a heavy timber mantle over their fireplace but were thwarted by the building regulations which stipulated any combustable surface needed to be at least two feet from the fireplace opening. This meant the timber needed to be situated high on the brickwork which the customer did not want. We had the perfect remedy. We would sculpt them a mantle that looked like wood but was actually made from steel and concrete. It will hang neatly from the brickwork. The heavy duty steel brackets were built integral to the mantle and will actually be held up by it rather than support the timber. All fasteners will be hidden. Matt did the beautiful sculpting yesterday. It will be painted up next week, as soon as the concrete cures.
Butterfly kisses
While I love to think of myself as a hopeless romantic, I didn’t take Janis out for dinner or bring her flowers for Valentines Day. While I did bring her a few of her favourite chocolates, she appreciated it more that I did ‘normal’ things. Janis is a practical person. As is important every day to show my love, I did my chores such as making sure the dishwasher was empty. As a bonus I brought her a lunch in bed as we had slept in very late. Then I went out to the shop to work on a small project which has been languishing for years as we decided how to tackle it. The vent grills in the ceiling of the living/dining room area have been missing since we built the house some years ago. Janis does not appreciate surprises, so in the last few days we had settled on a final design and I did up a test panel to make sure all was good. Today, I fired up the router to create the actual panels at long last. They brought an appreciative smile to Janis’ face and she rewarded me with a lovely butterfly kiss. Happy Valentines Day!
