Day 40: Oven Surprise

The week ended with a surprise on Day 40 (Friday, 8th March). Our mason had been back to Our House once again to apply a second, very fine layer of plaster to the fireplace. The photo above gives the overall impression.

The real surprise, however, is revealed in the second photo: he found a large, thick, matte-black tile and cut it into stripes in order to cover the bricks around the recessed oven door (check to compare). The effect is just fantastic.

I have to explain that, while assembling the fireplace, which was delivered as a kit, we did a few  modifications and improvements along the way. The final modification will be the finish. The kit came with dyed light-grey plaster as the final layer on the surface. However, after some deliberation, we think that this very porous finish will not be practical, since soot and dust can enter the pores. Therefore we will apply standard plaster with a somewhat rough finish, which will then be painted. The paint will close the pores, and this process will also allow for changing the colour if one day we don't like it anymore. For now we will paint the fireplace in the same off-white colour as the corridor and the wall opposite of the fireplace.