Our Fireplace

From a distance, you may not notice the stains on the brick fireplace. These stains come from the glue that the previous owners used to adhere the faux wood paneling.

Here is our fireplace in its former glory. The incinerator-like wood stove compliments the dark gloomy look and took two grown men (chimney guys), several hours, and several swear words to remove.

Here's Hubby prying off the first bit of the faux paneling. This is literally the first day (maybe even the first hour), after taking ownership of the house.

This is after all of the paneling was removed. We knew that there had been an old leak so that wasn't a surprise, but what we didn't expect was their generous use of glue (glue ended up being a four letter word during the remodel as the former owners used it everywhere).

This is how things look now. We've covered up the bookcases with drywall, added crown and base mouldings and had a cabinetmaker design and install the mantle.

Here's a closer look at the glue stains. We've tried everything to remove them - nothing has erased them completely. Initially, we had intended to paint over it but then kind of liked the brick (from a distance) with the white mantle so ended up leaving it...until now.

With the new furniture on its way, and with an empty room just screaming for a painting project, we're thinking that it might be time to paint it. All along, we thought we'd paint it white, but there have been other suggestions such as black or gray. What do you think?

I'm looking through some old magazines to try and see what different colors would look like. The good thing is that no matter what color we end up painting it, we can always change it later on....