Fireplace restoration

I have been wanting to share my reclaimed, rescued and restored fireplace and mantle piece for a while now.

I found it in a reclamation yard in North London (the one I saw on Kristy's Homemade Home in fact). It was a sad looking thing. it had been painted white at some stage and was all rusty with some of the ugliest tiles i have ever seen. I obviously showed far to much excitement upon finding it because the owner wouldn't budge when I tried to argue the price down from £50, which frankly I thought was a bargain considering some of the ones I had seen sold on eBay for 14 times as much.

The face features a pretty wreath detail that I found charming and thought would complement some of the vintage tiles I had already started collecting for it. Its shape was also ideal, being fairly narrow and not to tall to work well with the lower ceiling heights in the loft.

The restoration involved getting it dipped (in an acid bath!). I was going to attempt this stage on my own with some NitroMors, but thought the better of it. The dipping removed the layers of paint and rust, taking it back to its original cast iron finish. When we got it back it had to go back outside for a little while before the builders could fit it. This meant it started to oxidise again and came out in rust spots again. My husband, bless him, sanded all of these spots off for me again. The oxidisation largely stopped once it was bought inside, hence I haven't been rushed to make a decision on what type of varnish, paint, sealant I want to use. Suggestions again are more than welcome. I was thinking of painting it white initially, but I have gone off that idea now.

The original chimney breasts - from the fireplaces downstairs, worked as a natural looking protrusion to bolt the mantle on. Because of a mistake the builders made in placing a RSJ, it couldn't sit as far back as I hoped, but the builders made a casing out of wood, that eventually will be painted over to look like a continuation of the fireplace. This also meant that a sweet little recess could be created where the fire would have been. I have used this area to showcase little French oils, books and other knick knacks.

I purchased each of the tiles from Portobello road. Each is unique with the bulk from 1800's England. There is a Japanese one or two in the mix too. I think my favourite is the yellow tile, it reminds me of a lemon tart. Yum.