Just like everything else, the fireplace wasn't in great shape when we moved in. I figured that since I'd be cleaning it/ painting it one day that I didn't need to tape it off while we were doing other painting, so we did our fair share of damage as well. The first thing we did to it was have someone come out and professionally clean it/ the chimney (it's a funny story involving me letting the guy in, then frantically running up to the bathroom to throw up because I was newly pregnant.) The guy said it was a disaster and HUGE fire hazard. It hadn't been cleaned in a long, long time- which obviously didn't surprise us.
That ugly fireplace mocked me my entire pregnancy. It had been a project that I had really wanted to get done, but I got absolutely nothing done during my pregnancy because I was so sick. So after R was born it was one of the first projects I decided to tackle.
