We’ve just completed another fireplace project for a gorgeous timber frame house going up here in the Duluth, MN area. It includes a stacked stone base for craftsman style posts that bookend the home’s front steps.
A few decades ago I got started in stonework when I terraced my own gardens on my hillside property here in Duluth, MN. With no YouTube in those days, I learned by doing and reading — as in books — eventually becoming a full-time stone mason. Now I’m sharing my knowledge of stone hardscaping/hardscaping, indoor & outdoor fireplaces, wood-fired ovens, building stone veneers, etc.
Today, even with YouTube and other online resources, a lot of Do-It-Yourselfers are looking for some one-to-one stonework advice or coaching for their project. Or they may want to do part of the work themselves under the guidance of a pro.
So we’ve added Stonework Advice & Counsel service to our offering. Here’s why I like coaching DIYers:
They’re eager to learn because it saves them time, money and mistakes (i.e., more time and money)
They value expertise from someone who is approachable and patient
They appreciate some hard-earned stonework techniques
They’re looking for stonework advice customized to their project and their skill-level
Send me an email at lgranitedog@hotmail.com and I’ll let you know right away if and how I can help—in person or online.
Larry Beaumont
Last Summer we built our own wood-fired baking oven in the back yard. As you can see the hard-scaping is on the back burner, so to speak, while we focus on customer projects and gardening; it’s a short growing season here in Duluth, MN! However, we are using the oven and will provide some updates soon and maybe even pictures of the good stuff we pull out of it.
The oven unit is a LePanyol 83. We install Le Panyol ovens for restaurants, so we know they’re preferred by professional chefs and, of course, we know these ovens inside and out.
Speaking of the outside, the stone surround is set with that beautiful Saratoga Granite Blend that I’ve been talking about in recent posts—with the oven trimmed out in 4-inch charcoal grey stock granite.
For more examples, check out our Wood-Fired Ovens section.
Here’s our latest fireplace — another custom stonework project featuring Saratoga Blend stone — this time with Diopside Green Stone for the hearth and a wood mantle. Compare this to our March 26 blog post about a fireplace using the same Saratoga Blend stone but with black granite hearth and mantle.
The Saratoga Blend is a 50/50 blend of American Granite and Corinthian Granite creating a nice mix of textures and colors, including grays, blues, greens and golds. We added further interest with equal portions of 4 different shapes: ashlar, ledge stone, mosaic and roughly squared / roughly rectangular.
Custom fireplace featuring Saratoga Blend stone
Just completed this stone fireplace using Eagle Ridge Ledgestone with Kasota Limestone hearth and mantle.
Stone fireplace featuring Ledgestone plus a Limestone hearth and mantle