Post #257832 by Suffering Bastard of Stumptown on Fri, Sep 29, 2006 9:14 AM

Hey there,
One sore spot in my Lava Lounge has been the fireplace. The brick fireplace really didn't fit the motif very well as this picture illustrates:

So I went to work to build a grotto there. Mostly I used expanding insulation foam attached to various backing material (none of the foam touches brick) and a lot of black paint.

I installed a small fountain and put orange lights behind the foam and strategically cut through the foam so that the lights glow through making it look like hot lava. It's hard to photograph well, but perhaps this images give you an idea:

So now what I need is some nice little things to give it a little more color. I was hoping to find some artifical bromeliads, but I want SMALL ones, like the kind you find attached to seashells and magnets. That seems hard to find. If you have any tips on where to find them, that would be great.

I also might include some seashells, but I want to use ones I find on the beach ourselves instead of just buying some.

If you have any other ideas on how to bring some color into the grotto, it would be much appreciated.

and yes, I realize that it looks oddly square, but I did what I could do in the situation.

..sbim