Samantha grew up with a wood stove. So when she and her husband Ryan dreamed up their new home, they wanted one. Custom builder Don Mills did them one better. He built a thin brick wood stove surround that creates a spacious and beautiful farmhouse hearth.
In this modern farm home, the wood stove hearth is front and center.
And it’s mostly made of Pine Hall Brick thin brick veneer. Real brick, just cut down to three-eighths thick. Because thin brick is so much lighter than full brick, you don’t need a brick footing into the home’s foundation. The thin brick simply applies to a wood underlayment with mortar.
The effect and performance is just the same as full brick. Sitting on the sofa across from the wood stove, you can really feel the radiant heat.
Kennon House brick is molded to look like Early American artisanal brick. Don Mills chose gray mortar here.
Ryan and Samantha chose the site on Ryan’s family farmland in Guilford County, North Carolina. So the big country hearth in the modern open floorplan’s kitchen-family room is a fitting tribute to the land’s legacy.
The Don Mills thin brick wood stove surround is also the debut of our Old Brick House product, Kennon House, as a thin brick. Kennon House is molded to look like early American artisanal brick. It gives the sunny family room the perfect amount of “rustic.” The home’s front steps are also Kennon House. Only for that, Mills used full brick.
Here’s the same brick in bright sunlight. The thin brick wood stove surround matches the exterior steps: Kennon House.
The mantle of the brick surround is also made using full brick, for obvious reasons. However, even up close, you simply can’t tell the difference. The surround looks like it could have been built 200 years ago.
Less cost and less weight make thin brick the best way to add value to a home with real interior brick walls and features. This job called for professional masons, but many people are DIYing smaller fireplace applications.
The thin brick wood stove surround brings a beautifully rustic feature to a modern farmhouse.