Ever moved into a house and it has had a gorgeous Victorian or Georgian cast iron fireplace that has clearly seen better days and not known what to do with it? Here's a fast and simple fix!
When I bought my 1930's house, I had two problems. The first was that the fireplace in the living room was absolutely horrendous...the previous owners had ripped out the original fireplaces and replaced it with a 1960's style coal fired monstrosity.
Why?! Honestly it annoys me so much when people rip out character features from old houses...but I digress.
My first job was to rip out the fireplace and find a Victorian age cast iron replacement to fit instead. Now whilst they aren't particularly hard to find and you can easily get one from local antiques sellers and specialists, finding one on a budget that still looks like it hasn't been used can be tricky. I knew the exact style I was looking for...a cast iron hob grate fireplace. However they are very unusual and finding an original (not a replica) was difficult.
Luckily Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace and EBay are your friend. I managed to find exactly what I was looking for on Gumtree for £60. However it looked like it had seen better days and I wasn't exactly sure at the time how to fix it.
After doing abit of research, I can honestly say that fixing it took me less than two hours. First I used a wirebrush and wirewool to attack the hardened on rust bits and create a smooth surface - this took the longest at ~1.5h. I then gave it a wipedown with some methylated spirits - DO NOT USE WATER or you will undo all the good you have just done by cleaning off the rust. Also worthwhile noting that cast iron fireplaces should not be kept outside even for a night as they will rust if they see the slightest drop of rain.
The final step after wiping down was the most satisfying - using a small paintbrush and using a tube of HotSpot Black Stove & Grate Polish. Very cheap to buy at ~£5 and honestly transforms the fireplace. You use the paintbrush to apply it everywhere and then use an old towel to buff it up afterwards creating a gorgeous shine.
And like I said, less than two hours for this beauty! And here some before and after pics of my living and dining area with the new cast iron fireplaces and slate hearths installed. I opted against having a surround as I thought it might make the room look narrower and detract from the gorgeous detail on the fireplaces.
However this one wasn't the only one I tackled. My second problem was that the beautiful fireplace upstairs in the second bedroom had been painted with ultra thick gloss!! So my next job was to figure out how to take it back to the cast iron without having to pay for it being removed and sandblasted.
This is where the Nitromors paint stripper gel (in the green metal pot) comes in. I'd used it before for stripping paint off tiles and it worked a treat then, but getting off hardened thick gloss was going to be a real challenge. In total, stripping back the entire thing took me ~8hrs to make sure there wasn't any paint left and that all the detailing was visible. Using a wirebrush and stripping knife to scrape off the paint after you've let the Nitromors sink in and soften it up is the best way I found of doing it. Be patient though, it takes time but it's honestly worth it! The pictures below show how it looked as I was gradually stripping off the paint.
Once you've stripped off the paint, wash with methylated spirits and use the black grate polish as before, buffing as you go along! You wont believe the transformation! Here's what mine looked like afterwards...worth it right?!
To then complete the room, I sanded down the floor boards (instructions are given in my previous post) and painted with a colour to complement the original tiled hearth feature as seen in the picture below.
**The colour used for the grey walls is Hemsley - Lovington Pewter, while the feature wall is painted in Crown - Velvet Evening with my absolute favourite colour by Farrow & Ball (Inchyra Blue) on the woodwork. I even made sure the inside of my little bureau was painted in the same colour :)
Anyway please subscribe to see more random DIY projects and house renovation. And if you have any comments or questions then feel free to get in touch :)
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