Evelyn M

Fabulous Fir Fireplaces

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Evelyn M is an artist as well as an interior designer. She moved to Vancouver Island in 2005, settling between Campbell River and the Comox Valley. Her focus as an interior designer is to take the ideas of her clients to the next level, ensuring their needs are exceeded while staying within their budget. Evelyn also loves to write about her passions, and manages a Home and Garden blog and Facebook page for LocaLHomeSpot.com, a Campbell River Contractor Directory. Evelyn’s art is described as contemporary with a West coast flare; here at Island Woman her writing will cover topics on all aspects of design, Island style.

Fireplaces evoke such serenity and warmth.

Fir Mantle and Side Panels

There’s really nothing quite like sitting in front of a crackling flame, watching and listening to the constantly changing visuals and sounds – Shaw knows this with the success of their Yuletide log. Every flame needs a home and that home should be one that is worthy of such focus – cue the stage and enter Douglas-fir, a wood rich with history that embodies both warmth and grandeur.

Whether electric, gas or wood, Douglas-fir evokes the spirit of the real (or not so real) flame. It can be jointed with a loose (Rustic, Country) grain or a tight (Contemporary, Modern, Traditional) edge grain. When Tung oiled, the wood takes on a beautiful golden glow that works as a contrasting punch to grey tones and as a monochromatic match to beige. My personal favourite is to have grey toned walls, yellow toned fir cabinetry and red toned wood flooring. This covers all three of the primary colours, allowing homeowners to expand in any colour direction. I have, however, created rooms in a variety of other colour schemes that work just as magically with fabulous fir.

Fir Mantle

Fir Mantle on Peninsula Fireplace

If you have an existing fireplace that is completely surrounded in brick, stone or tile, a simple floating mantle of fir can be a stunning accessory. Originally, this fireplace was a peninsula of old and painted white brick, with a wraparound floating slate hearth. We removed the hearth, refaced the dated façade with ledgestone Realstone and mounted a “hollow” floating mantle out of Vancouver Island Douglas-fir. We chose to do a hollow mantle for two reasons. A solid beam above a fire will be prone to constant temperature changes and that will make a solid piece of timber an excellent candidate for “checking” or splitting. By creating a framework surrounded by fir, this will not happen. The second reason is weight. A solid timber is much heavier and requires far more structural support. We also removed the existing brass and black fireplace surround, sanded the brass and repainted it with flat black chimney paint. This is a simple DIY project and an inexpensive upgrade to the shiny brass.

Fir Fireplace Surround and TV Panel

Fir Post and Beam Fireplace Surround

This wood-burning fireplace also had an existing brick façade with a small and unimpressive mantle sitting on top of the brick. The homeowners wanted to free up floor space by mounting their flat screen above the fireplace. They wanted easy access to cables, but did not want to see them. We created a semi post and beam look for them – the beam being the mantle. Above the mantle, an edge grain fir panel sits several inches out from the wall supported and attached to the posts that run from floor to ceiling on either side of the new charcoal stone fireplace surround and marble floor level hearth. The cables for the TV and speaker run behind the removable panel. The fir panel and posts, combined with the black mass of the TV, are in balance with the fireplace below. Without the panel, the TV would take too much visual attention away from the fireplace itself.

Fir Entertainment Centre – with a Fireplace added

Fir Entertainment Centre with Fireplace

Originally, this wall niche housed the homeowner’s entertainment equipment on oddball, mismatched pieces of furniture, and there was no fireplace. His request was for a custom entertainment centre that would fill the niche and house his equipment, have drawer storage and also display shelves. We suggested incorporating a fireplace below the TV, but the homeowner did not want to go to the expense of installing a gas or wood fireplace. When we mentioned that going electric would keep the costs down and still look awesome, he was blown away. Having only seen the usual mass produced electric fireplaces, it had not occurred to him that he could purchase the fireplace box and have it housed in a custom surround. Aside from the beautiful fir cabinetry that flanks the fireplace, we went with a fireplace surround of random jet-black polished pencil tiles and a removable fir TV panel.

Douglas-fir trivia
Did you know that the Douglas-fir is native to Western North America and is not a real a fir at all? In the past, it has been called the Oregon Pine and the Douglas Spruce. The tree was first documented in 1791 on Vancouver Island by Archibald Menzies, hence its official name of Pseudotsuga menziesii. It is a unique species unto itself. It is the second tallest conifer in the world.

Fir MacIntosh Tribute

Seed production does not start until a tree is 20-30 years old and produces one heavy and a few lighter crops every 5 to 7 years. The seeds are an important food source to mice, voles, shrews, chipmunks, the Douglas Squirrel, and many bird species.

In our Design House shop, we specialize in (but are not limited to) creating beautiful custom cabinetry made from Vancouver Island grown, harvested and milled Douglas-fir.  To see more of our projects, simply go to our website  and click on the portfolio tab.

 

Evelyn M
Associate of Interior Design
250-204-4417
www.EvelynM.com
Evelyn M Interiors/Design House BC
Evelyn M Fine Art

 

 


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