Reclaimed Brick Fireplace & Oak Bressummer

A single, focused piece of work in a private home at Wickham St Paul: taking an unremarkable chimney breast and turning it into the centre of the room.

The existing opening was small and had no presence. It was enlarged and rebuilt using reclaimed brick chosen to match the age and colour of the house, carried on a privately sourced solid oak bressummer. A wood burning stove was installed with the flue concealed within the rebuilt breast, and the hearth laid in patterned tile.

This kind of job looks simpler than it is. The masonry above has to be properly supported before a single brick comes out, the new opening has to be sized for the stove and its flue, and the reclaimed brick has to be laid so that new work reads as though it has always been there. Get any of the three wrong and it shows for the life of the house.

The remaining photographs show the completed fireplace in the context of the room, so the work can be seen as the owners see it every day.