Master Fireplace

At long last we finally have the new marble surround on the master fireplace.

When we moved in, the subway tile on the floor in front of the fireplace was in sad shape. The surround on the face of the fireplace was just a sheet of 1/4-inch plywood.

Quite a while go, I'd removed the tile along the floor. More recently, I removed the plywood surround and discovered that some of the subway tile had been removed from the face. But only up to the top of the firebox. Removing the rest was a pain. Very few of the tiles came off in one piece...

Due to lack of time, I decided not to do the tiling; rather we'd hire someone to do it. However, the floor in front of the fireplace was uneven and the tile guy said to save a bit of money I should use some "self-leveling" mix to create a solid, smooth base.

Right.

The "self-leveling" mix didn't. And so he had to chip it out and pour more before installing the tile. So much for saving a few bucks...

But the new marble looks fabulous!