Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » before & after: jessica’s fireplace

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for those of you looking for a before & after that doesn’t involve painting and upholstering a chair (i know, i hear you) here is a great makeover project that involves not only a found material- but an unidentified one at that. jessica lynch of slow shirts recently finished building her home/studio on guemes island in washington state. while exploring the woods near her house, she found an old leaning sleep structure (complete with molding sleeping bag) that had been abandoned years ago. taken by the huge heap of metal leaning against a tree, jessica decided to find a way to get it into her home- after a little power-washing and deep scrubbing. no painting, no covering in wallpaper- just a good cleaning (and a little cutting) and voila! jessica converted her found metal piece into an industrial-looking fireplace surround. i’m so impressed by her vision for this piece and the way she stayed true to its original look. thanks so much to jessica for sharing.

[have a before & after you'd like to share on d*s? just shoot me an email right here with your pictures]

[ps: stay tuned for sarah's weeder's digest video next at 2!]

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This is the best before and after of all time!! Fantastic!

It’s a great example of looking at the world around us and using our imagination to see how we can use things in new and different ways.

Brilliant!

Yep, love this, so innovative, and that lovely orange chair in front just makes it. I’ve been missing finding furniture on the street since I moved from the city to the country, but this just proves I’m not looking hard enough.

WOW! Thanks everyone for the nice comments! It’s bolted to the wall right into studs, so it’s solid, (to answer someone’s question) It’s been up for almost two years now and it’s holding strong. My contractor thought i was a little crazy for the idea, but i think he actually came around and liked it in the end!
When i found this piece there was another one similar to it buried more into the ground, so if there is any takers, and your in the neighborhood i’ll show you where to find it!

This is such a good example of creative thinking and home design, and such a nice change from all the cookie-cutter MDF that gets praised as ‘fresh and modern’ in most main- stream home decor media.

Love the wabi-sabi look of this. Just curious if the metal conducts a lot of heat being so close to the fireplace? That could be nice if it warmed it to a touchable temperature, but was wondering if its made the metal hot like a radiator? Regardless of that, it is beautiful and clever.

Very cool! But I was amazed at the orange chair – I have two of these exact same chairs that I found in two different thrift stores over a period of a couple years! Maybe they were sold in the area as I live in Seattle. Where did you find yours?

I am so glad people realize the amazingness of my sister Jess.

Everything in her house and studio is extraordinary, if you like the fireplace just wait until you see slowshirts.com

Everything she touches turns cool.

It’s very lovely and creative… but, I immediately thought of DB Cooper as soon as you mentioned “sleeping bag”. Did she check around for a bag of cash and a parachute? You have to admit, that metal sheet sort of looks like a piece of fuselage. :-)

That is fantastic. I have an entire wall of brick with a little rectangle cut out for the fireplace and I have been tearing my hair our trying to come up with an idea that will break up the brick and not be too stuffy for the room. This gives me some great inspiration! I love it.

You have got to be brave and have guts to pull this off – kudos to Miss Jessica!

I want to see what the rest of this place looks like… I have a feeling this woman knows how to use color and texture to maximum effect!

Can we see more? MORE!!! Thanks.

It is absolutley more creative then words. I have the same underlying question as most mothers of two working fulltime. HOW DO YOU FIND TIME TO BE SO CREATIVE?? Lord know I have all the idea but Im either missing time or money!!

This woman must have strong biceps, or very good friends to pull this through the woods! She probably gets that from the printing work for her slowprints.com designs and slowshirts.com shirts.

Designer in Vancouver could have a field trip to Jessica´s house after a bite at Adrift restaurant and see more he is so close!

Holy crap! A seriously HUGE THANK YOU to all for saying such nice things, it really has made my days.

The fireplace surround before is nothing to really see but a solid black frame. I bought it from sparks and they offer surrounds that i couldn’t afford, ( like marble or granite n’ such) and i knew i wanted to try and figure out my own anyway. The metal piece i found is actually VERY light. I drug it out of the woods with the help of my friend Maggi (thanks MAggs) and then threw it in the back of my pickup truck. I have dutch doors that open onto a porch so it was easy to bring inside tilted at an angle.

As far as the chairs origins, it was given to me by a neighbor, like much of the rest of the furniture in my house. I don’t have a budget for new furniture after building, so i gladly accept discards from neighbors and cruise thrift stores when in need. It’s more fun anyway, right?

i have been keeping my eye open for ideas for my own fireplace, and love the looks of this as well, but my concern is…how hot does it get? it is still metal and heat. it may not be a good choice if you have small children or pets who like to like to get close. what’s been your experience so far, jessica? thanks!

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