Dreaming of a Kitchen Fireplace

I've had a notion over the last few hot July days, a warm and cozy notion that I just can't seem to get out of my head... a notion that I need to have a fireplace in our kitchen. Oooh, can you imagine it's irresistible lure on those frigid winter days...those days that are so cold that you leave the oven door open after baking biscuits or muffins just to warm yourself up a bit? Can you imagine the sheer joy and sense of togetherness that would embrace you and everyone else that sat at the table in front of a fire as you dined together on those dark and wintry evenings?

Now, I know that space won't allow me to have a bona fide roaring and crackling fireplace in my kitchen or dining area. But I do have the space for a large, wide, perhaps even tall mantle. I realize that a mantle in itself won't literally warm our bones on those bleak winter days and nights but for me anyway, just the idea, just the hint of a fire is enough warm my spirit. I love fireplace mantles just as much as I love old doors, old houses, old anything... So I'm thinking that instead of putting a mirror or piece of art on the longest empty wall in in our kitchen / dining room, I want to put a fireplace mantle!

I see them all the time on Craigslist and, when I go, the flea market. When I find just the right one, I'll know it, but the price has to be right for this remodelers tiny budget. I'm thinking that I would want it to be painted dark, dark brown, almost black, to add some contrast to all the light colors I have going on in the kitchen and to really make the fireplace the focal point. I found this dark, old fireplace mantle on Craigslist and while I can't afford it now, it inspires me. I'm wondering how hard it would be to build one and then again, would I rather have a piece of history instead?



The wall I have in mind is in the dining area behind the farm table, the wall opposite you if you were standing right here behind the island. I'm sorry I don't have a better view...here is the other half of that wall...




Don't you hear that lonely wall begging to be chosen for a focal point?

I think I would want a mantle that is tallish and wide so that it doesn't disappear behind the farm table. Ideally, it would be neat if were portable and not actually nailed into the wall, but at the same time, I don't want it to look fake. I want it to look like it's an old fireplace that just happens to not be in use anymore, all bricked up like folks usually did when they wanted to keep out the draft. We are going to be adding beadboard around the kitchen and dining room so to really pull this off, I think I just need to go all the way and install the fireplace mantle as a permanent fixture and then add the beadboard around it.

I know some folks who have those little electric fireplaces that look so convincingly real and that would be really sweet tucked under a mantle, but there just isn't room in the space I have in mind for anything more than the mantle itself. Like I mentioned, I would probably brick up the opening with the same kind of brick paver I used for my kitchen backsplash (and will eventually use for the surround on our real fireplace in the living room, now covered in tile that has been painted) or try to come up with a prettier idea. In the fall and winter, I'd use the mantle shelf for a couple or three candles and in the spring and summer, I'd use it to display fresh flowers. I would hang a horizontally long mirror above the mantle (which would reflect candle light nicely), or a row of matted and framed silhouette art. I could use silhouettes of my children, but I also love the idea another blogger had (I'm sorry, I can't remember who...ugh) to use these bird silhouette patterns that can be downloaded here. The blogger I speak of framed these little pretties and they were so sweet! If anyone knows who I'm talking about, please let me know!

Incidentally, I found this gorgeous old fireplace mantle on Craigslist last night for just $45! They had two...I called this morning but they had sold them already. Pity, but someone got a great deal!

So that's what I've been daydreaming about lately. What have you been dreaming of?