Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Out With the Old.....Retrovation Puzzle.

 We've been busy with the retrovations around here.
Working on some major projects and trying to make our small space more live-able.

This is our front sitting room fireplace. It was made by the Majestic fire place company. I can't seem to get a hold of the company directly, they just keep sending me to a dealer nearest me. I want to ask them when the fireplace was made and wonder if anyone knows if it's rare or not. It seems to be brass plate. It has a water trough for holding water under the top canopy piece that is removable. It has four elements that heat up and two switches on the front I assume one is for the heating elements and one is for a fan?



Our front sitting room is a teeny weeny 12 X 12 foot square space. Here's a pic to let you know we did love the fireplace and we used it well over the years....


However........



This is what the space looks like now. We have three windows and two doorways (one double) in that room and absolutely nowhere to put a sofa without having to disjoint a kneecap to pass through the room. So what started out as a fairly innocent suggestion like, "Hey honey, what if we get rid of the fireplace?" has turned into a giant hole in the lath and plaster in the front room, many pieces of floor to patch because of hearth removal and a wall beam that defied gravity for an hour. We fixed that guy right away!

This making the house the way we want it is frightening business!
We are removing a retro and very cool fireplace to make room for retro decorating...... I think it's acceptable if we make sure the fireplace goes to a good home. 
What do you guys think? 
Is it ok to remove retro fixtures to update and personalize a space as long as the pieces are saved for future use?