The fireplace

Back to home improvement. We really like the slate tile we used for the entry so decided to use it on the fireplace which was this super rough stucco painted white. Ugh. We decided it was too much work to remove the stucco and we weren't sure what was underneath it, but it had a stepped structure and we wanted to simplify that and make it flush to use less tile with fewer cuts. So we used spacers and backer board to cover the stucco in the stepped back portions and mortared the tiles to that and the stucco.

Starting from the bottom we worked our way up o the bottom tiles were the structure for the top tiles. We'd done a similar treatment on the fireplace in Seattle but this was far more square feet and many, may more cuts.


It took a few weekends to accomplish and was not easy. The stucco required a lot more mortar to make it all stick and since we were trying to make precise cuts so we didn't have to use grout, well let's just say, we never choose the easy road.