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Fireplace mantel/shelf

sgcurtis | Posted in Construction Techniques on October 30, 2006 01:19am

I’ve attached two pictures of our family room fireplace. The “old” photo is the state when we purchased the house, and the “new” is the current state. You can easily see that we’ve replaced the carpet, primed and painted the walls (had never been painted in 8 yrs… ugh), and primed and painted the tile surround. We haven’t yet replaced the fireplace itself. 

What is less apparent is that we drywalled over the two entertainment niches, and got rid of all the drywall “trim.”

I would have loved to build a full mantel, but the wall does not return symmetrically; i.e., the left side does not return until past where the niches used to be.

The current thinking with my wife is to build a mantel shelf that runs the length of the tiles, which is 6ft. I am thinking of using a 5/4 board about 8″ wide for the top ledge and then build it up with crown. The crown would return to the wall on each side. Also, the 6 ft measurement would be at the bottom edge of the crown. The top of the ledge would actually extend out beyond the 6 ft.

Earlier this week I ran across this post: http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=79583.1 As usual, I saw lots of good advice, so I thought I would run my thoughts by everyone here to see if I’m even on the right track. Am I going down a road only to discover that I won’t like the finished look? I’m also open to additional suggestions, including a potential design for the full mantel. (Plan, drab baseboard, notwithstanding.)

One additional note: I’m not too worried about cost of materials. If the right solution is 50% more than the next best alternative, I’m more concerned with getting it right.

As always, any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

 

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  1. IdahoDon | Oct 30, 2006 04:55am | #1

    Am I going down a road only to discover that I won't like the finished look? I'm also open to additional suggestions, including a potential design for the full mantel.

    The entire set of nooks and trim are a bit awkward to work with an come up with a cohesive solution.  The main danger when carpenters try to design as they go with such setups is it is much harder to fix than would first appear.

    I'd suggest drawing up the entire wall with a good bit of detail and coming up with something you'd be happy with prior to doing any additional work.

    Personally, the space is such that I'd want to tear out the entire section that was furred out clear to the crown on the ceiling and start over.  This allows you to have the mantle you really want, and not just polish a turd.

    Good luck

     

    Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.

  2. hvtrimguy | Oct 30, 2006 05:21am | #2

    there are a couple mantle idea books out there. I use them with my customers a lot to feel them out on style. then I start sizing things up. besides, anything would look better than the old mantle (Yikes). I like the previous post in saying even out the rest of the wall if possible in order to have the space you need to do something really nice.

    good luck

    "it aint the work I mind,
    It's the feeling of falling further behind."

    Bozini Latini

  3. maverick | Oct 30, 2006 05:42am | #3

    what style are you looking for?

    1. sgcurtis | Nov 06, 2006 04:37am | #4

      Apologies for posting and then disappearing. It's bad form and definitely not my style -- the week got out of control for me at work. I would have preferred to have been spending my time on this, believe me.

      Of the styles, the 2nd image (CIMG1360) is probably the closest to what we're looking for, but on a smaller scale.

      I am in agreement with IdahoDon and the idea of redoing the whole wall. I think that fits our long term goal for the room (along with a new fireplace); however, for the time being ,I think we're stuck putting lipstick on a pig. I think we got past "polishing the turd" when we got rid of the old look :).

      Plus, I have a deadline for this: the boss has given me until the end of November to have some place to hang the Christmas stockings. Otherwise, I'll have to go buy one from a millwork shop. And where's the fun in that??

      hvtrimguy, what are the better mantel books out there that you usually show clients?

      1. IdahoDon | Nov 11, 2006 07:22am | #5

        For mantel ideas a great resource is the image search function of google.  It's one of the first places I'll look for ideas. 

        Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.

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