Stripping

There are five fireplaces in the original house - two in the basement, one in the living room and two on the first floor. The two on the first floor were covered in plaster and we chiseled some holes in them and discovered they were both also made of stone so we just had to uncover them. The plaster turned out to be three inches thick so we were lucky we had a big, strong son who likes to destroy things. Brad jackhammered all the plaster off not only the fireplaces, but also the wall in the kitchen. Our stone mason, Vince Iacampo (www.stonemason.org) from Long Valley, took one look at them and said "cover them up". Look at the photos and you may agree with him. I knew I couldn't live with the fact that right there in my bedroom was a stone fireplace but hidden underneath plaster. Vince took another look and told us he would try to restore both fireplaces. The sandblaster, Jim, came up in his 1950 studebaker truck and sandblasted the fireplaces and the chimneys in the two bedrooms on the second floor. That not only cleaned them up but brought out the color in the stone as well. How do you think they came out?