A couple of weeks ago Kallie and I decided we wanted to build a mantel for the fireplace. We had talked about it for a while and never like the original mantel, so we thought it would be a fun project for us.
We started out by using contractors paper to create a template of the new mantel and design
something that we hoped would look good. We went to Menards to look through the trim section and came up with a combo of crown molding and baseboard that looked good as a mantel front. We picked up some nice oak planks and had our supplies for the project. I also picked up a new air compressor and brad nailer for the project as well (I really didn't want to hand-nail the mantel together; the new nailer was worth every penny).
At one point during the project, I was talking about buying a better saw; Vic's hand-me-down miter saw was driving me crazy, and Kallie said the most beautiful words to me: "You know, I won't discourage you from buying tools".
For the most part, we were able to assemble the mantel pretty quickly. There were a few set backs: the miter saw didn't hold 45 degree angles well, so the miter on the mantel tops didn't match. We had to buy new molding and re-cut much of the mantel top so the corners would look good. We also had to stain the mantel twice. I bought some "stainable" wood filler to help fill in the mitered corners to make them look better. But, the area where we applied the wood filler ended up not staining.
The "stainable" wood filler ended up blocking any stain from absorbing into the wood leaving lots of white spots around nail holes and on corners. So, we ended up re-sanding and re-staining most of the mantel to get rid of the wood filler.
This weekend we were able to finish the assembly and get the cleats into the brick. Once that was done, Kallie spent a little bit of time making sure the top was level. She had to sand down one edge so the top would lay flat.
The top of the mantel is removeable so we can hide the TV cables in it. On the left leg, you can see the cables running out the leg, so at some point we'll build a cabinet to hide the cables and electronics.
Overall, we are really happy with how it turned out. (Kallie did much more than the photos show; someone had to take the pictures :) She kept me from taking the shortcuts that I wanted, and in the end the mantel looked better because of her.
We had our last marriage counseling (or marriage prep, as Kallie prefers to call it ;). We showed the host couple the mantel and they were excited that we can do projects like this together. They said it was a good thing we can work together. So, I guess building a mantel was good preparation for our marriage too!
