Fireplace facade

I met yesterday with two different wood workers for bids on covering up our “arty” fireplace:


I don’t have their bids yet, so this is all hypothetical, but we asked for something similar to this, which would also echo the lines of our new entryway console table:




The first guy said no problem, he can do that and he can do that in walnut in about a month or so (bid price dependent, of course). The second guy pointed out that we can’t *technically* have a wood fireplace façade within six or eight inches of the fireplace opening since it turns out that, oh, wood is flammable?

Stay tuned. We’re not exactly looking for more excuses to do tile work, but we may not have a choice because of The Law.