Among the many decisions Travelin' BRITS and I had to make during the build of our home was what type of tile or design we would incorporate as the back splash in the kitchen, mainly the area over the cooktop, as it would be the focal point in the center of our kitchen.
We knew we wanted a stucco-style vent surround, but the verdict was out on what the feature would be on the wall below.
At one of our favorite stores in Columbia, SC, Southeastern Salvage, we found beautiful tumbled, raw travertine tiles. And because of the type of store, we bought all they had not knowing, or caring, if it would be enough to cover the back splash areas in our kitchen. Based out of Chattanooga, TN, Southeastern Salvage is a store that sells overstocks of all sorts of builders' materials, as well as imported furniture items, at prices that are truly unbeatable!
I'm a firm believer of web surfing, magazine flipping, and HGTV viewing for inspiration and ideas for various projects, whether it be DIY or done by professionals. It's just helpful to be able to bring the vision in your head to life through pictures. That said, Travelin' BRITS and I have become avid browsers of the pages of Tuscan Style Magazine. A bi-annual periodical that truly makes you say ooh and aah with each page turn. It was in this magazine that I started paying special attention to the back splash in so many of the featured homes' kitchens, magnificent kitchens with unbelievable features and furnishings. In one particular kitchen I noticed an interesting cook top back splash. On closer inspection and reading the caption that accompanied the photo, I discovered the home owners had used a gorgeous repurposed summer fireplace cover.Architectural salvage? Repurposing something cool from an old house? Now we're talking! But what is a summer cover, you ask?
"A Summer Cover was 1 of the 3 components commonly used on small coal fireplaces. The surround served as a frame for the fireplace opening. There were usually tabs on the lower portion of the surround onto which the coal grate hung inside of the fireplace. The cover door also mounted onto this surround frame, attaching from the outside.
The door was completely removable and was taken off when there was a fire burning. When the fireplace was not in use then the door, or cover, was mounted back onto the frame, keeping warm air from the house from rising up the chimney and in the summer keeping the cooler and often smelly air in the chimney from dropping down into the house.
The cover doors were made from a variety of materials. A fair number were heavy, cast iron doors but frequently they are made of tin and also some in brass. They were always made of a fireproof metal, as it was common to put the cover on when the coals burnt down low so the family didn't wake up to a completely cold house in the morning, by which time the fire had burned out.
The design of the cover was most often a bit ornate, and matched the design elements found in the frame."
Many covers, as mentioned above are a bit ornate, but many are on the plain side. Many tell a story, while others are designed with something special for the owner.
Ok, enough with the history lesson. Rewind to a beautiful sunny October day. I stopped in my favorite flea market/antique mall in Florence, SC, Thieves Market. I LOVE that place! I'm always able to find cool stuff in there, and often get side-tracked from what I'm looking for by all the amazing treasures they have in there. Even the front porch is loaded with interesting treasures, weather-exposed and all!
After poking around on the front porch and not finding any fireplace covers I headed inside. Mind you, Thieves Market covers a huge area, packed with both junk and treasure. So as I passed the front counter the kind proprietor asked if she could help me. So I asked if they had any summer covers. "Why, yes, as a matter of fact, there's one booth that has several. But did you see the one on the front porch?" What? No! Where? So she led me to it. It was a rusty mess, but worth keeping in mind while I went to see the others all located further in the expanse of this treasure trove of goodies.
None of them were what I was looking for, so back to the front porch I went. Incredible, so fitting, and in a word perfect! SOLD! And I even got it for less than the ticketed price... even better!
It was a rusty, gross mess, but I was determined to make it work and to get Travelin' BRITS to love it too. Which he did. He even helped with the cleaning.
I had read somewhere that apple cider vinegar and steel wool do wonders together in removing rust. So that's what I started out with. While it did remove a large amount of oxidation, I needed to step up my efforts a couple notches, not to mention the old paint and soot that needed to be removed. In came the heavy duty paint removal Jasco Premium Paint and Epoxy Remover. That is some powerful stuff! I poured it on the cover, worked it into all the nooks and crannies and left it for several hours.
When I returned, not much had changed until I started scrubbing with my steel bristle brush. All that old paint and rust just started disappearing! It was amazing! All the details of the design started popping out before my eyes! I was so excited I could barely contain myself! I rinsed it off and left it to dry.
I came back to it after about 30 minutes and knew I was looking at our cooktop back splash! Even though our kitchen fixtures are all bronze finish, I chose to paint the back splash with a Rustoleum copper spray paint. It turned out beautifully, and blends perfectly with all the other special features of our kitchen.
Cooking is a necessary hobby that is now a great pleasure realizing I repurposed a unique thing of the past into our 21st century home.
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