Blue skies above

The Roofers have finally arrived. It only took them about 3 hours to remove the old tiles.

Fireplaces are great - up to a point

As this house was built pre-central heating, there are plenty of fireplaces.  One per room, in fact. They're not built for wood, though. 1905 Brussels seems a gas-mad place. There were gas heaters in every fireplace, and gas lines leading to the light fixtures on the ceiling. Many of these have been removed, but all the fireplaces remain. Some are beautiful,some, like this one, not so much.

This one is in the back, on the 2nd floor (or the 4th floor - it depends on how you count). Not only is it homely, but it gets in the way of a bookcase we'd like to locate there. It's a big case I made of doussie, a dark African wood. It's 4 meters long, and this is the only wall it fits on in this room, to be Rosa's office and library.

So the fireplace must go, as well as the chimney behind it.  What makes it a big deal though, is removing the chimney above it. It goes also through the attic (soon to be liveable) and onto the roof. That's a lot of bricks to remove. The roofer will demolish it to the attic, and the contractor's guys will do the rest. A lot of work for a bookshelf. But it's a really nice one.