Mantel Makeover

I've been talking about bulking up our mantel since we moved in. I wanted to remove the existing one and put up a big chunky piece of reclaimed wood.

Well, T had a different idea. Sort of. He didn't want to remove the existing one, just in case the next owners wanted it. Ugghhh....so we compromised. Isn't that what marriage is all about? So we built a box to go around the current mantel. So, if we move, we can take it with us, or the next owners can do what they want with it.

We took it from this drab boring oak (Doesn't it look so sad and boring?):

To this fantastic, amazing, gorgeous chunk of wood:

By building this:

I'm pretty sure he hated this project. He wanted to do it, and he likes building things, but it presented some challenges along the way. Like cutting things a teensy tiny bit too short and having to carve out part of the inside so that it fit snugly around the existing mantel.

I did the same treatment to it that I did to the stairs, minus the coats of poly.

It's Cordovan Brown stain with a dry brushed brown paint and then another coat of stain. I banged it up with a wrench and put some worm holes in with a screw (Ha - just remembered that I used the wrench to pound in the screw.... crazy fool. Which is why I have a bruised knuckle...slammed my hand with the wrench. What I won't do for my house.)

I love it just as much as I love the stairs. I just want to hang out by it. For some reason I feel like it totally changes the feel of the room to more of a rustic feel. Which I totally wanted and love.

Oh, and I'm totally laughing at the laundry room stuff and hubby being too tall. For two reasons. One, he rarely goes into the laundry room! Even though that's where he's supposed to put his coat and shoes. And two - he's only 5'10". I actually feel like I have to duck when I step under the light, even though I won't hit it and I'm 5'5".

I love when projects work.