Fireplace is coming along...

Bricks (by Andi Mini Brick & Stone, Williamstown, Vermont), here shown faux-painted with built-up creosote and dusted with "ash"; bricks on the floor level are black 400-grit sandpaper (in order not to add thickness at the floor level), cut to mini-brick-sized and individually placed on a pre-"grouted" floor area; and a deeply aged, hand-rubbed finish on the mantel that may be one of my favorite bits of the whole project. It's the littlest details, that no one but the builder may notice, that give the greatest joy in minis...