Hunk of Burning Love...

No, not the Elvis Presley song! I mean my hunk of burning love who has been working hard around the house these past few weeks!  Remember when I mentioned the remodeling he was doing over spring break?

They started by replacing all the molding around our atrium windows...

As they moved into the living room to replace the baseboard molding, it led to my suggestion of doing something with this ugly beast...

In the 20+ years we have lived in this house, we have never had a fire in this fireplace! We use to have a free standing stove in our family room that we had fires in, but never in this homely thing. It was time for a change.  I was thinking of mantle, Mike was thinking fire place insert. So we compromised with this...

Short of tearing out all the stone, I think this was a simple yet much improved change. Thanks to my hunk of burning love for his hard work!  Of course, now it's an excuse to do some new decorating for the mantle. So far it is adorned by the Crebbin Family established 1988 sign my parents gave us for our 25th, but I am currently evaluating what to do. The large antique watercolor we had hanging above no longer fits. I am thinking possibly a mirror, then a variety of items for the mantle. Any suggestions???