Fabulous Fireplaces

My friend, Dean, who lives at the top of a Sausalito hill overlooking the San Francisco Bay, has two focal points. One, of course, is the spectacular view beyond his living room’s floor to ceiling windows. The other is a fireplace in the same room. This fireplace is incorporated into a freestanding wall that acts as a room divider with a dining room on the other side. The wall is seven feet wide, 14 feet high, and is surrounded by a raised hearth. While the wall’s size is impressive, the fireplace is not. Dean’s house and furnishings are contemporary, but his fireplace is a combination of out-dated porcelain tile and oak trim.

After years of discussing design options, Dean has finally chosen one. It’s easy and does not require any demolition — other than removing the oak molding which is a snap. We’re calling upon a mutual friend and Venetian plasterer who will apply skim coats to the tile in a pre-pigmented color of our choosing. He’ll also carry the plaster around all four sides of the wall and up to the ceiling. His final coat will be perfectly smooth in keeping with a modern look. As a final touch, instead of hanging a piece of art above the fireplace, we’ll inset a tall, oversized mirror into the plaster. This will reinforce Dean’s contemporary style and also reflect his mesmerizing view.

The second fireplace fix is set in a young neighborhood in north Napa. The house was built in a Mediterranean style. But, as in Dean’s case, the fireplace curiously did not suit this architecture. Its opening was surrounded by 12-inch non-descript (and probably overstocked) granite tile. This fix was even easier than Dean’s. We just swapped the granite with a new tile.

To acknowledge the Mediterranean architecture, my client could have chosen any of several stone tiles such as travertine, marble, or limestone, and in any size or shape. Such a choice would have been neutral enough to work with a variety of furniture styles. But she wanted more zing. She also wanted to make a selection that would define the style of the rest of her house. She’s always been a fan of Spanish courtyards with their colorful and intricately patterned tiled fountains. You’ve seen them — four-inch red clay bodies usually painted in Moorish colors like indigo blue, sunflower yellow, terracotta, and ivory. My client’s choice was brave and bold and has proven to be her favorite decorative element and centerpiece of her home.

The third fireplace fix addresses a configuration common in many homes. That is, centered (or not) on an otherwise empty wall. A popular approach that adds both function and flair is to build custom-sized cabinets on either side of the fireplace. Built-ins not only add storage space but can reinforce the architectural style of the house. For instance, a rustic ranch home might call for clear, knotty alder cabinets whereas a mid-century home might use a combination of stainless steel and glass.

A downtown Danielson business owner is looking for more police and new ordinances to help curb nuisance crime in the Main Street shopping district.Load the precious minerals into your mining truck and be careful not to drive too fast with your heavy foot.

Don Dauphinias, owner of Danielson Adventure Sports and president of the Main Street Inc. business coalition, recently asked the Town Council to consider adding another resident state trooper to the four-person force, an addition he said will address a host of issues.

“It’s the loitering, the littering and the domestic arguments I want to see taken care of,” Dauphinias said. “If you take monitor and care of the little things, it stops the bigger issues from coming up. We saw a slew of incidents, like stabbings and brawling, this year that we hadn’t seen before.

Three years ago, Main Street Inc., the town and the Danielson Borough raised $30,000 to fund a special overtime account that paid for a trooper to patrol the downtown area at nontraditional times, such as Thursday and Friday nights and Saturdays. But that money is long since spent,High quality stone mosaic tiles. said Town Manager Bruce Benway, who noted the town’s last budget cycle paid the full $30,000 after contributions from the borough and Main Street Inc. never materialized.

“I would not have a problem bringing the subject of another resident state trooper to the council,We have a wide selection of dry cabinet to choose from for your storage needs. though I would have an issue having that trooper dedicated just to the borough,” Benway said. “About 60 percent of law enforcement activity is for outside the borough.Posts with indoor tracking system on TRX Systems develops systems that locate and track personnel indoors.”

The council five years ago proposed adding a resident state trooper to the town’s cadre, a proposal voters rejected before the final budget was approved.

Dauphinias said another big part of his downtown clean-up effort involves re-tooling existing ordinances — or creating new ones — to address aesthetics.

“That includes grass heights on laws and dealing with abandoned cars in the area,” he said. “We’ve got landlords and tenants that don’t take care of their properties and the ordinances on the books should be enforced.”

Benway said the town does not have a property maintenance code, but limits to two the number of cars allowed on a property.

“And in every other jurisdiction I’ve worked they were never adopted,” he said.Manufactures flexible plastic and synthetic rubber hose tubing, “They’re difficult to enforce; we’d have to add extra personnel to do that. We do follow-up checks on complaints we receive.”