Fireplace Surround - Part I

Our house was built in 1939 and has many of the original features still standing. Of those is the fireplace which is framed in original vintage limestone. It was in great shape when we moved in, but we decided a wood burning fireplace wasn't a very practical option for us going forward. I grew up with a gas fireplace back home and was aware of it's efficiency, but I had no idea if we would be able to make something like that work in our house. Well, my parents surprised us with an awesome gas insert as a house warming present shortly after we moved in. That thing was AMAZING during the Polar Vortex last winter. Our little living room was as toasty as could be.

Unfortunately, all we did was hire a professional to run a gas line and then Tyler and my Dad built a handy little stand to raise the insert enough to fit inside of the existing fireplace. End of story. It has literally looked like this for well over a year now...

Not exactly the most beautiful thing you have probably ever seen. It's pretty clear the fireplace wasn't meant to be converted, but that doesn't mean we won't give it a shot! A warm house in the winter and low energy costs? I'm all for it!

Tyler and I finally decided to "battle the beast" a few weekends ago. (We would love to have a pretty fireplace by winter, after all.) The trickiest part? Not covering up any of the beautiful architectural features of the existing fireplace.

The insert my parents purchased actually fits almost perfectly within our hole, but the height is a real issue. The insert came with some side surround pieces that we knew we weren't going to be able to attach, so we wondered if we could modify them to work on the bottom instead. After a bit of cutting (and me freaking out)...

We were actually able to finagle a perfect fit! Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

Now what about the sides and top? We're still thinking through our approach and should have a solution finalized soon. Stay posted for the result!