Are you kidding me!?

So!

Fantastic Autumn weather is here, right?

Time to get the fireplaces ready, right?

We are fortunate to have four fireplaces.  Living Room and Hearth are both Wood Burners where we have put in gas logs. Master Bedroom and Family Room are gas only, with pilot lights and on an electrical switch. SWEET! 

Now the one in the Family Room was in AWFUL shape. It had been Brass when new, and some previous homeowners had decided to paint the Brass black.  BRILLIANT idea!  And I mean that with no sarcasm: really! I did this with the frame on the Fireplace doors in the Hearth Room here. But, they did not use High-Heat paint, thus it was all peeling and nasty.  If you touched it, the paint smudged off on your hands and huge flakes fell on the carpet. 

I decided to take the door off, clean it with water, sand off the paint, repaint, clean out the fireplace and put the glass back up.  It took me just over an hour and things went perfectly.  That night, I lit the pilot light, flipped the switch, and a beautiful fire blazed forth.  It had been on for about 20 minutes, with our family gathered 'round, I mentioned how lovely it looked and how happy I was.  I swear to you, not 1 minute later, there was a loud POP! followed by a gently shimmering sound. 

THIS had happened.

That's right.  Come on, take a closer look

...heavy sigh....