AW: Progress pics of my mantel and builtins

[ktzmoh]

Im totally excited for how my mantel and builtin build is going! Didn't get nearly as far as I had hoped this weekend (sad how fast the weekend goes, huh?). But I thought I'd post some progress pics because, well I'm excited.

Here's our fireplace before:


Note the angry pumpkin who hates this retro looking brick with the 70s era screen and zero place to hang stockings.

We had a mason tear out the existing fireplace, went to the brick yard to pick out something we liked and had him rebrick. Then I put two saturdays into constructing and installing the mantle and starting on the built ins that will go on either side. The mantel is finished other than priming and painting, the right hand book case is installed and just needs its trim. The pieces for the left hand book case are cut and just waiting to be assembled and installed.

Squee! The stockings shall indeed be hung by the mantel with care on our first Christmas in our very own house!

(sorry for the cell phone pics... I'll take the time to do better photos in more detail when we are closer to done)

\And these cell phone pics look kind of purple. But it's actually a lovely gray. We used BM Metropolitan on the walls, so that gives you a sense of how off the color is in these pics LOL!





I even ordered new stockings in my excitement

[Deleted]

Wow - that's going to look awesome!

How did you find your mason? I always feel weird calling places for little jobs like that. But I don't have a lot of brick work needs.

[bunnymendelbaum]

Looking terrific. That's going to be beautiful.

[munkii]

The new brickwork is much better, and your work is looking fantastic. It will be beautiful!

[Deleted]

That's going to be beautiful. I love love love the new brick.

[chanteltbarrett]

Nice! Can't wait to see it when it's done. Love the stockings too.

[Deleted]

Wow, that is going to be beautiful. Sometimes I am all for hiring pros.

[bg09]

Love everything about it! Your new stockings will look amazing there!

[pitterwoo]

that brick is the perfect look, wow it's going to be great. I know this started out as a smaller project, but it seems like it's going to be really worth it.

[TBM]

Wow...it looks great! You accomplished a lot. I thought you were crazy when you said all that you had planned to finish over the weekend, but now I am just impressed.

Btw, it's mantel, not mantle. ;p

[ktzmoh]

LMAO! I guess all that thinking about earthquakes and retrofitting had me thinking about the earth's crust.

<-- kind of a moron. lol!

[mrsemilys]

I love it!

[wawa]

I love your mantel! (which looks so wrong. apparently I've been misspelling that all along. I don't think I knew that mantle and mantel weren't spelled the same. Oops.)

Did you build it from scratch or buy it as a kit or preassembled or salvaged or....?

[TBM]

Nov 20, 2012 10:10:52 GMT -5 wawa said:

I love your mantel! (which looks so wrong. apparently I've been misspelling that all along. I don't think I knew that mantle and mantel weren't spelled the same. Oops.)

I guess you missed the post I did on the nest one day when I was bored, illustrating confused spellings...including mantel and mantle. ;p Some of the links are broken now, but you get the idea. community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/41419531.aspx?MsdVisit=1

[FoxInFiji]

It looks great!

[ktzmoh]

Nov 19, 2012 16:36:09 GMT -5 @jennylove said:

Wow - that's going to look awesome!

How did you find your mason? I always feel weird calling places for little jobs like that. But I don't have a lot of brick work needs.

We just looked on yelp. We prefer to hire local people, so we just searched for fireplace mason and our city name and found a couple of guys. One had great reviews on yelp.

We had 3 people come in to look and give quotes. Two guys insulted me by implying that I am incapable of building my fireplace surround and shelves. THe third guy had great reviews, gave us a great price, had an approach that we really liked and was super nice - so he got the job.

[ktzmoh]

Nov 20, 2012 10:10:52 GMT -5 wawa said:

I love your mantel! (which looks so wrong. apparently I've been misspelling that all along. I don't think I knew that mantle and mantel weren't spelled the same. Oops.)

Did you build it from scratch or buy it as a kit or preassembled or salvaged or....?

I wish I had the style and savvy to do something with salvaged wood. Sadly, I'm just not that creative. I just built it from scratch, which wasn't as hard as I thought. Nothing fancy, just off the rack lumber and trim.

I found some plans online which gave me a sense of the logistics, and a really helpful tip on mounting it without drilling into the brick. The mantel I did in one day - which included time for me to get to know my new table saw. I have to say I really love having a garage now and the process of putting together my woodshop. I've dreamed of having one since high school!

[Deleted]

Good work! You've got a lot done!