Okay, last time I showed you a whole bunch of the beginning, now I am gonna show you the middle… (since the final isn’t actually available at the moment!)
Once the “legs” or pillars were installed (yes I just Googled the anatomy of a fireplace cuz who the heck knows all the names for the parts of a fireplace.. actually now I do! Thanks Google!) …we started on the header (or undermantel, wow I fell so smart using these big words and all!)
Since the built-ins have a “counter” that runs along almost the entire length of the wall, we decided to carry that element into the fireplace header, only it would be painted white. This little piece caused Justin a bit of stress, there was a bit of cutting to do, twice. (Just cuz I am picky!- sorry but THANK you honey for fixing it, twice) I am happy to say we were both happier with the result once it got cut down a bit.
The next day we had the whole undermantel built. I caulked patched and sanded quite a bit and started painting (while watching Downton Abbey of course, cuz that is the fun show to watch online right now… speaking of which I need to go watch the next episode)
Etta was busy doing some building of her own, and I think it is rather impressive, can’t believe it was still standing!
Now that everything was painted (at least once), we started fitting the mantel. We got it all sized and cut properly, then Justin took it outside to stain and poly so we wouldn’t have to deal with the fumes. This took us at least 2 weeks to get it all done. Justin got busy at work and there just wasn’t time to finish.
On top there is a little hole that will be behind the TV that the cords can travel through, the front piece of the mantel top is removable, so if we ever need to fish something through it will be rather easy! Yea!
…then it won’t look like this otherwise know as Cord Central.
The 2 x 4’s on the wall are for supporting the mantel (when it is installed) But you can see below how it is finally coming together!
Lydia, watching the process… I love those little bellies!
One of the mantel boards ended up being about an 1/8th of an inch too big, so we used one of our handy dandy tools! … it was so nice to just make a quick cut and move on!
Here was the mantel all put together and ready to be installed!
All he had to do was just slide it in place and secure it with a few screws, cuz he is just good! Way to go honey!
There is the little hidden cord access again, yea! (can you tell I am excited about not having to see the cords anymore… I REALLY am!)
Since the legs of the mantel, created and empty void on the side of the built in’s we added a little filler piece. Obviously it still needs to be painted and caulked!
No big final picture… I know. I will put in a repeat, cuz I don’t think I have a final (whoops)…! More to come people, more to come! What do you think, do you like how the plan is coming to life?
And here is is finished!
If you like this please consider sharing it on Facebook or Pinterest please! I will talk to you a little more about window covering options tomorrow!
It’s AMAZING! It’s fun to follow along with your creative process.
Love it, can’t wait to see the big reveal!
I’m a new follower!!! I’m so excited to see the final product on your fireplace transformation!!!
http://www.jenandjercook.blogspot.com
xoxo,
~Jeni
Gorgeous! I’ve been playing with mouldings and trim a little myself. What fun! I love how you’ve managed to hide all the cords.
Awesome job!! Can’t wait to see the whole room! I would love for you to come party today over at Passionatleyperfect.com!
This is awesome. Let me know when you have the final up with links to all the posts of this project and I will feature on my blog.
Sounds good! We need to get on that! (finishing it that is!)
Ummmmm this is AMAZING. I ADORE what you were able to make it is exactly what I dream of. Ohhh thank you SO much for the amazing inspiration!!!
Jaime from crafty scrappy happy
I love your faux fireplace! Thanks for sharing!
I’m so impressed. It looks like a lot of work.
Can you tell me what color and brand of stain you used?
the brand and color is oil-based dark walnut found here at the home depot. I added about three coats to get it the darkness that I wanted. I hope that helps. Justin
can you tell me how much this cost you to do? i’m trying to convince my husband to build one like this 🙂
Lindsay,
We used a lot of scraps, paint and stain that we already had, but just guesstimating, you could make this for about $150. ( One tip to save moeny is to use a lot of sheet goods and cut them down to size with a table saw, it is a little more time intensive but cuts costs effectively!) And by using a 2×6 for the mantel, we saved a lot of cash (rather than using oak)
Good Luck! I never regretted any of the money or time we put into building it! it was one of my favorite features in the whole house!
This is awesome thank you so much I will be building something very similar to this in a little over a month and you have shown me a completely better way to do it. Thank you very much
We are glad that we could help you Emily. Good luck on your project.
Did you use melamine wood? And if so, what type of paint did you use?
Candice, I used MDF. And we painted it with white paint. Hope that helps.
hi, what kind of wood is the 2×6 mantel. It has a beautiful figure and the stain looks fabulous.
Just pine! Your basic wall building 2 x 6. I think the stain was Minwax dark walnut?! With a few coats of water based poly to seal it.