1920s - fireplace - remodel without damaging

Tygermoth

Hi all,

We have al 1920 fireplace in one of the rooms which is being turned into a manly office type space (whites and greys)

The problem is the fireplace is all tile and is trippy green a pinks in a hypno type patten. its, um, original.. but not pretty. at all. Its rounded and sits out from the wall, there is no surround and no base. just a tall thin tile arch, if you will.

This being said I don't want to damage the tiles because they are an original feature and I think it should be preserved.

So tile paint or sticky back plastic? I have used tile paint before and the finish was dire, even with following the directions to the letter, and then it would not come off for love nor money (potentially causing damage to the tile in future)

Therefore sticky back seems the way to go. This being said i cant find any tutorials or pictures of anyone having a go and how it turned out.

Any ideas?

Ruski

Personally I'd construct a fake fireplace over it - then you can leave the original completely undamaged - and "manlify" the new construction to your desires.

HTH

Russ

Tygermoth

The construction of the fireplace doesn't lend itself to being boarded over -- it will try and find a photo...

http://www.bricksandbrass.co.uk/design_by_element/fireplace/1920s_and_1930s_fireplaces.php

Its the middle style but comes quite a bit out, is on a flat wall so to go over the top it would be very wide into the room.

Jaynne

Put a surround around it and make a base out of whatever tiles you think would fit? You could even put in one of those gel fires for the occasional flame effect?

EDIT: just checked and you don't need a flue for biogel fires

DirectDebacle

Fix short battens about 5mm thicker than the surround projects from the wall to follow the shape. Cut e.g. 12mm MDF to shape, fix to battens and paint. There will only be an additional 17mm or so projection into the room and it will only be the width of the batten you use, wider than you already have.

rustyboy21

I don't know why you just don't take it out. It isn't really going to add ' value' to your house. Anyone who would want a fireplace like that , if they bought your house at a later date, can get them made quite easily from a number of places.

I had 3 of these in my house when bought it. A bolster behind the mantelpiece brought the back away from the wall and the hearth was a 2 minute job too. I even boarded the wall and did a skim of plaster over it too and I am not fantastic at DIY.

An Art deco fireplace is only good keeping, if you are going to use it, otherwise they take up space and the colours won't go with anything. There isn't really a market for them, only a small select range of people, who really would pick over it, with a fine tooted comb and not offer a lot for it

I take out a couple a month, when people have bought new fireplaces from me.