bedroom fireplace

[Juju]

We are about to start decorating my partner's daughter's bedroom and for the first time since we've moved in, I've had a chance to examine the fireplace. It's been a bit hidden because of where we positioned the bed but now the bed will be on the opposite wall to the fireplace so the wall with the fireplace becomes the 'feature wall' (I like the way teenagers know all about interior design nowadays!) Anyway, I think the fireplace is lovely especially as it's stamped with the name of a local and long-closed shop BUT now I've started looking at it properly, I'm not sure I like the modern bricks at the front. I'm not sure if the fireplace has been in the room a long time or whether it was bought by the guy who renovated the house. The shelf and beading look pretty old. Anyway my main question is - should we leave the modern bricks alone or paint them or plaster and paint them?

The colour scheme is F&B Adventurer (browny/aubergine)on the wall and the other 3 walls will be Little Greene paint Cinder Rose (dusky pink) and we thought probably the currently cream coloured plaster around the fireplace would be Cinder Rose and a pale grey on the shelf and beading. So if we paint or plaster the bricks, they would be painted Rose too.

Any ideas very welcome!

 

[yamin]

No expertise at all here, but two things strike me about your pic
1. The fireplace is curved on one side and straight on the other, this strikes me as very strange, esp of a house built in a time when symmetry was so fashionable - is it part of something bigger, or has it been adjusted in some way?
2. Not sure you are even asking about the mantlepiece, but it looks like a later addition to me.

Lovely inset, not sure re the bricks, but seem an unlikely addition for a fire back, but i could be very wrong.

 

[Juju]

Thanks Yamin - there's no symmetry in this house and no straight walls - it was built ca. 1690! I assume the original fireplace was maybe just an inglenook style/open fire? Not sure really what modest 17th century house bedroom fireplaces looked like - assuming it was a bedroom of course. We're 3 doors down from an old Early's blanket weaving workshop so this house might have been part of that.

 

[philmac1944]

I like the fireplace; doubt there`s another like it. If this room is upstairs, the curve on the right is probably where
the flue from a downstairs fireplace is passing by as it joins the chimney. The brickwork is a bit `clean`; you could
always lime render it or seal it and paint it a neutral colour.

 

[Penners]

We're 3 doors down from an old Early's blanket weaving workshop so this house might have been part of that.

Are you in Mill Street? I used to work on the Windrush Park industrial estate, up the Burford Road. But that was when all the old Early's buildings were still standing, down Mill Street. Having said that, I can't remember any buildings as old as yours in Mill Street. West End, perhaps?

Your fireplace looks interestingly odd. I don't mean to be rude, but - aside from the asymmetry - there are several things that puzzle me. Firstly, the "framing" beading, which is wider than the the mantlepiece. I suspect that this is not how it was originally arranged (if it existed at all when the original fireplace was constructed). Secondly, the proportions of those bricks look wrong. Are they perhaps standing on edge? Are they ordinary bricks or fire bricks?

That's an interesting hob grate, though. Is it missing some framing beading on the face below the right-hand hob, or is there some sort of little oven there? And what's that black something-or-other set into the mortar above the first course of bricks on the right?

To me, the hob grate looks too big for a normal bedroom fireplace. Those wide hobs could almost have been designed for cooking.

So, all in all, I have a (very inexpert) suspicion that this fireplace has been assembled from disparate imported components. But when - I've no idea.

Very interesting though.

 

[Juju]

Yes Penners we're in West End. The fireplace/hob grate appears to be missing a door on the right hand side and the funny iron thing in the modern brickwork is a slide out flat plate thingy. I wonder if it was all originally in the kitchen and the previous owner moved it upstairs or he just found it in a salvage yard of course. But having said that there is quite old rubble behind it which might suggest it's been there a while. The beading and shelf are very similar to what I've seen of Georgian/early Victorian fireplaces round here so it may have been left when an older fireplace was taken out?

We can date the grate itself between 1830 and 2006 as that's when the ironmongers it came from was in business (Leigh & sons).
I think I'll paint the modern bricks - they spoil the look of it I think.

 

[philmac1944]

We had a range once; the flat plate was a flue damper which controlled the oven temperature.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Yes, I'd paint them too Juju, they stick out. maybe Off- Black - FnB? Something dark anyway.

Decorating scheme sounds nice!

 

[Juju]

Thanks Joce - I hadn't thought of a dark colour for the bricks - they'd look more part of the hob grate then.

Interestingly the hob grate is 3ft wide which is the same as the fireplace opening in the kitchen so I am wondering if a previous owner moved it upstairs. If so, he shouldn't have done given that this is listed! I'm looking forward to decorating this room as it previously had horrible wallpaper and has the potential to be lovely and bright and the colour scheme is a nice grown-up one for a teenager. The aubergine colour for the fireplace wall is very dark but the room can take it and I'm pleased that the curtains I chose 2 years ago will go with the scheme and not now be rejected by the said teenager...
I'll post piccies when it's all done!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Penner's hypothesis and your measurements and findings appear to be making sense of this.

I take it this fireplace will be purely decorative, not to be used?

Plaster with paint on top looks nicer IMHO that just paint on brick, but even more work!

 

[Juju]

Yes it's purely decorative. I agree plaster plus paint would look better. I'll give the plastering a go (lime of course) - to assess whether I have any talent in that area!

 

[Delta]

I’d say plaster is the way to go.

- The bricks look too clean.
- The oven feature doesn’t make me think of a bedroom.

I’ve also collected a few photos, from websites like here and Salvo, and all of those hob grates in-situ were plastered in. My bedroom hob-grate hole (I was missing the iron-work) still had the lime plaster on most of the exposed bricks - http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9847

I do however have a follow-up question, would it have been painted or blacked with a stove polish? Black limewash anyone…?!?

 

[Penners]

I wonder if it was all originally in the kitchen and the previous owner moved it upstairs

I suppose that's possible, but having said that it looks too big to be a bedroom fireplace, I don't think it's big enough to be a proper kitchen range. Nevertheless, it might still have been in a kitchen, as a supplementary water-boiling facility.

We can date the grate itself between 1830 and 2006

I'm in awe of your archeological knowledge. :wink:

I reckon West End is the most beautiful street in Witney - or perhaps first equal with Church Green. A lovely place to live.