Cast your mind back to when booyaa opened up the fireplace in the dining room. We finally had the slate arrive for the hearth and lovely Fireplace Man came to complete the job.

We were advised to seal the brick so that we don’t get a slow but constant release of brick dust. We used a soft brush to remove as much dust as we could, and then two coats of spray matt polyurethane varnish.

The varnish stank out the house for a whole day. It was horrible stuff. But it’s left the bricks looking exactly the same as before, no plasticky finish which other products would have left.

The slate hearth is beautiful. It’s so tactile you just want to stroke it as you pass.

cleaned and varnished bricks and lovely slate

What it has made us think is that we might need to rearrange the dining room. You can’t stroke the slate as you walk past… Or even, the table partially blocks the view of our lovely fireplace.

Fireplace Man left the recess nicely tidied and plastered. It’s ready to decorate now. As is the whole dining room, at last.

The opening for the fireplace is now huge, certainly big enough for booyaa’s wine store (contributions to fill the darn thing are very welcome)

(For those who don’t get the joke in the title, try this.)