Fireplace project started!

Well, after talking about it for awhile, I finally decided to tear down the old fireplace. Good timing, as the garbage company had their quarterly "dump" day. So I was able to get rid of all the debris. Nothing eventful for this project so far, other than the large arch piece crashing to the floor when I was removing it. Hadn't expected that to happen. No harm, no foul.

I removed the piece of sheetrock in the center (dome shaped piece) and installed a new one. Taped and now in the process of building up the sheetrock with some mud to make it flatter. I bought a texture sprayer gun and will have to learn how to use that thing, since I've only used spray cans in the past. Hopefully it isn't too difficult.