Comments on: Rebecca and Keith’s 1961 split level http://retrorenovation.com/2009/12/06/rebecca-keiths-1961-ann-arbor-tri-level-house/ Remodeling, decor and home improvement for old homes Fri, 25 May 2012 17:16:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Roberta http://retrorenovation.com/2009/12/06/rebecca-keiths-1961-ann-arbor-tri-level-house/comment-page-1/#comment-130380 Roberta Fri, 04 May 2012 23:26:36 +0000 http://retrorenovation.com/?p=19507#comment-130380 I had a neighbor in the 60's that had a fireplace like that. The had a crate with white birch logs in it. it looked very cool. I had a neighbor in the 60′s that had a fireplace like that. The had a crate with white birch logs in it. it looked very cool.

]]> By: Katia http://retrorenovation.com/2009/12/06/rebecca-keiths-1961-ann-arbor-tri-level-house/comment-page-1/#comment-52092 Katia Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:32:29 +0000 http://retrorenovation.com/?p=19507#comment-52092 Oh -- I just remembered! Our garage was on the other side of the fireplace and we had a woodbox at the far end of the hearth. The woodbox had a pass-through from the garage to the hearth with a rough door into the garage and a cabinet door by the hearth. We kept firewood in the woodbox. If you kept a few logs ready to use down at the far end of your hearth that would be the same idea. Also, like yours, our hearth ran the width of the room and the fireplace was on one end (asymmetrical). Oh — I just remembered! Our garage was on the other side of the fireplace and we had a woodbox at the far end of the hearth. The woodbox had a pass-through from the garage to the hearth with a rough door into the garage and a cabinet door by the hearth. We kept firewood in the woodbox. If you kept a few logs ready to use down at the far end of your hearth that would be the same idea.

Also, like yours, our hearth ran the width of the room and the fireplace was on one end (asymmetrical).

]]> By: Katia http://retrorenovation.com/2009/12/06/rebecca-keiths-1961-ann-arbor-tri-level-house/comment-page-1/#comment-52090 Katia Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:18:41 +0000 http://retrorenovation.com/?p=19507#comment-52090 I had to smile when I saw this house -- I grew up in a similar house in Ann Arbor. We called the ledge beside the fireplace the "hearth". We had a sculpture* on the hearth but other than that, we kept it bare -- the whole length of it. (Except that we put the last few days worth of newspapers in a stack at the far end before we discarded them. That way if anyone in the family had missed one of the sections of the paper we could find them for a few days.) To have spare, bare surfaces was the ideal. Especially on the hearth because of the fire hazard! Other surfaces collected clutter that had to be picked up and put away but we all knew not to put stuff down on the hearth. *I still have it -- it is so spiky that it is kind of dangerous -- you might impale yourself if you fell on it! I had to smile when I saw this house — I grew up in a similar house in Ann Arbor. We called the ledge beside the fireplace the “hearth”. We had a sculpture* on the hearth but other than that, we kept it bare — the whole length of it. (Except that we put the last few days worth of newspapers in a stack at the far end before we discarded them. That way if anyone in the family had missed one of the sections of the paper we could find them for a few days.)

To have spare, bare surfaces was the ideal. Especially on the hearth because of the fire hazard! Other surfaces collected clutter that had to be picked up and put away but we all knew not to put stuff down on the hearth.

*I still have it — it is so spiky that it is kind of dangerous — you might impale yourself if you fell on it!

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