FIREPLACE MANTEL

In this project, we completely renovated a Fireplace Mantel.

This fireplace mantel was just the standard, builder grade mantel complete with dental moulding and standard 1990’s style accent moulding.

When looking at the before pictures, you might notice the light switch located right next to the mantel. This switch was not to turn the fireplace off and on. It powered the light and fan in the next room. This was odd, but we figured out that the den was an addition, and this light switch originally powered the lights on the outside of the house. While we were at this project, we decide to move the switch. This wall was an interior wall, and the other side of it was the room in which the light switch powered, so we decided to simply switch it around.

There are no photos of that part of the project, but it entailed removing the drywall from this side of the wall, flipping the switch so it faced the other way and came out the other wall, and then replaced the drywall.

We mostly used MDF for this project. We first built the two side “boxes” that would flank both sides of the stonework.

Since we were going to use trim moulding, we simply screwed the pieces together, being sure to countersink the screws so the trim would sit flat on top.

After both sides were built, we brought them inside and attached them to the wall, We added a piece of wood along the wall where the boxes would attach to. This piece also will serve as the anchor to where the top mantel piece would rest on. We cut and attached a piece of MDF that connected the two boxes. Again, just using screws that were countersunk because they would be covered up with the trim moulding.

Once this was complete, we painted what we had attached so far. This mantel is going to be black instead of the standard white!

When that was finished, we put the mantel piece on top, and got to working on the boxed area on top. We didn’t take any photos of this step, but the build was a simple box, created with the same steps as the two lower sides. After this step, we painted that black and then trimmed everything out with moulding. We used lattice style moulding for all the trim work, crown-style moulding for around the top, chair-rail style for both sides of the mantel, and baseboard moulding for the bottom.

The final step was paint! We painted all the trim a couple of shades lighter than the black that we used for the base. This gave it more dimension. Although it was just a subtle shift in color change, it created a big impact.

And here is the final mantel! It’s beautiful!

Thanks so much for reading!

PRODUCTS AND LINKS

All materials used for this project (MDF, trim mould, paint) were purchased at Lowe’s.