I never shared our 2012 Christmas mantel. Our mantel was not featured in any blogs or magazines or link parties. Sad, I know, but well.... our mantel was dismantled! See that sad picture, below? To the left of the fireplace, the mantel is leaning against the wall. It stayed like that until the day we put our tree up and I told my husband the (VERY heavy) mantel had. to. go. So, he carried that eight foot long beam down to the garage. He's a good man.
I know it's not customary to dismantle your mantel right before the holidays, but you have to take your opportunities where you find them. Our nephew, the stonemason, was visiting and we hired him to make some repairs to the fireplace. When we lifted the beach house (yes, we raised it NINE feet -- you can read about that HERE), some bricks loosened up on the hearth, and a couple of cracks in the surround widened just a wee bit, so we needed to make some repairs.
Our nephew started by removing all the loose bricks and cleaning off any loose mortar. Somehow, a couple of the loose bricks had gone missing during the remodel, so he had to search out some new bricks to mix in with the existing bricks.
This picture was taken right after the repairs were made and before the mortar had cured, but you can still tell that our nephew did a great job! We are so pleased with his work :)
I am so happy to have the repairs made, and to have that ridiculous mantel gone. The picture below is from before we bought the house -- the mantel and legs on the fireplace were really strange. The mantle was actually six inches wider than the fireplace on both sides, and it overlapped the window on the left. Weird.
Now, we have a blank slate -- ready for a makeover! What type of mantel would you add?
It probably won't happen right away -- there are plenty of other projects already in the queue, but we'll get to it eventually :)
I know it's not customary to dismantle your mantel right before the holidays, but you have to take your opportunities where you find them. Our nephew, the stonemason, was visiting and we hired him to make some repairs to the fireplace. When we lifted the beach house (yes, we raised it NINE feet -- you can read about that HERE), some bricks loosened up on the hearth, and a couple of cracks in the surround widened just a wee bit, so we needed to make some repairs.
This picture was taken right after the repairs were made and before the mortar had cured, but you can still tell that our nephew did a great job! We are so pleased with his work :)
I am so happy to have the repairs made, and to have that ridiculous mantel gone. The picture below is from before we bought the house -- the mantel and legs on the fireplace were really strange. The mantle was actually six inches wider than the fireplace on both sides, and it overlapped the window on the left. Weird.
Now, we have a blank slate -- ready for a makeover! What type of mantel would you add?
It probably won't happen right away -- there are plenty of other projects already in the queue, but we'll get to it eventually :)