December 8th, 1786

Received a considerable shock this Thursday last when, who should show up on my doorstep, but the Chevalier. Evidently he did not take my lack of communication as intended to indicate that his presence was no longer wanted at Portaberaud, and came to visit, as was his original plan. Being that he was already there I could hardly turn him away into the cold night, so he was permitted to stay, which led to us engaging in a rather frank discussion. In truth it hearkened back to the kinds of talks we used to have when we first began this misadventurous romance. It meandered through topics, dear and distant; and we expressed the deepest fears of our hearts as well as our cherished dreams. He insists that his relationship with that actress is naught but a fond friendship and asked if I would wish him to abandon her as a friend; to which I responded that I should wish for him to abandon her as a potential lover. He said he already had, and swore again that nothing of that nature had passed between them. I for my part shall continue to monitor all correspondence I may find access to, and toward this end I have enlisted the aid of my maid, Marianne. 

The Chevalier is to remain on with us for some weeks, departing again for Paris and his father's house just before Christmas. During that time Marianne will assist me in locating any letters, diaries, or notes which are between he and the actress or any other woman who is not already known to me. Nor am I so foolish as to overlook anything which may be addressed to a false name, or a coded reference. I wish to trust, but I find it necessary that I should protect myself from future pain and embarrassment by taking the reigns now and ensuring that my trust is deserved. I will find ways and reasons of separating him from his room and belongings, and Marianne will, in the guise of her duties, search for anything which seems potentially suspicious. These she will bring to me, taking care to note their position so that they might be returned as if undisturbed, and I will explore their contents for signs that he is or has been false. 

Should no cause for concern be found, so much the better. If something of note is discovered, it will be all the proof needed to cast aside his hollow oaths and banish him from my company forthwith. I will then need never wonder if I have been hasty or unkind; and he will be unable to defend his actions as misunderstood rather than sordid as they will have been indeed. I do not like having to pursue this course of action, but I think it must be done. It is too easy for my gentle heart to be abused, I do owe it protection where I am able. 

-Olympe

Mantle Project Update 1

I've been promising to do this for a while, and we are so close to having this project done so it seems like the perfect time for an update. First of all, you may be wondering why it's taken this long to actually make significant progress on the mantle. The main reason is simply that the majority of the work is being done for me by my partner who does not live with me full time, so we can only really do most of the tasks when he's in town certain weekends. We also had to pause when it turned out that I didn't have as many tiles as I thought I did and had to order more and wait for them to come in. All that being said, we have made it to a great place now and the project is looking splendid!

It started with a plan for how the fireplace insert and mantle would need to be connected in order to create the right look while still allowing us to pull out the insert for maintenance or to unplug it if, for instance, it needed replaced. My idea, after watching some tutorials and checking out DIY blogs, was for a sort of U-shaped shell attached to the back of the mantle, with a platform for the insert to sit on, and a thin flat behind the mantle that the tiles would be attached to. My partner quickly chucked this idea (and my measurements) when he realized that there was all kinds of crazy woodwork shenanigans going on behind the 19th century mantle. The platform remained a good idea though, and once the tiles came in we were able to adhere them to the simple backing panel, though they are admittedly more uneven than desired. Perfection was never the goal, on the other hand. 

The insert came from Wayfair, and originally I picked up one that was too small. I was trying to keep things as economical as possible, but it showed up looking absolutely diminutive compared to the hulking mantle and had too much space on the sides, so in the end I went for the Gibbs Flat Electric Insert at 19.9" H x 28" W x 8.5" D, which I paid just under $300 for (it's now a bit higher so I'm glad I got it on sale when I did).

My main contribution to this project, other than the research and purchasing, has been the sanding, of which there has been a lot! As an antique this mantle was never going to be perfectly smooth and unscarred, which is perfectly okay because I love its history and character. That being said, I did want to repair some of the peeling areas of paint and get rid of residual plaster from old finishes. There were quite a few areas that needed work, as you can see from the photos. The duck egg blue is obviously not original, but it is one of the things I liked about the piece when I first saw it online, so that stays. I found an interior paint at a local retailer that was pretty close to the existing color, and bought my first electric sander just for this (again, I went for a cheap model because I wanted to make sure I wasn't overspending on something I might not use frequently). Of course some of the areas are flatter and more accessible than others so I also had to buy a small hand-sander for the tight places and after that it was just a lot of elbow grease, which I don't mind. The holes in the top of the mantle were where it was originally fixed to the wall, and will be re-used here before being puttied and painted (probably, we'll see how visible they end up being). In recent days the repainting has been my main task with this, as my partner has been back home for a few days.

No sooner had he put together the box and attached the tiled panel than I was dying to try it all out together just for a sense of the finished project, but he was still cursing the odd dimensions. Not only was there a lot of patching on the back of the mantle that supported weaker areas, but it was very uneven meaning that one side stood out further than the other although not visible from the front. There are also standard sizes for things today, like an average height for a fireplace mantle, and that wasn't really true 200 years ago, so standard cuts of woods weren't lining up easily. Bless his heart, he dealt with it, adding a lip to the edge that the mantle slots onto and carving off fractions of inches to ensure that it all lined up. I should take a moment to mention that in his daily work he is NOT a carpenter and that this is not a typical kind of project for him, so I am extremely grateful and I think he did admirably well. And that's where he left it as he headed home Monday morning...

Of course I couldn't resist dragging the parts together to see how it was all going to look, more or less. 

Stay tuned as we're planning to finish this project this coming weekend, just in time to hang some stockings!