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Fireplace Mantel Focal Point
If you’re considering replacing your fireplace
mantel, Georgia fireplace mantel manufacturer
Park Pigott suggests first re-thinking your
mantel’s importance. “Number one, a mantel is a
piece of furniture. It just happens to go around
a fireplace,” Pigott says. “A fireplace with a
mantel should be a focal point of a room. When
you walk in you should be able to say, ‘Wow,
isn’t that lovely!’”
Size up your current fireplace mantel. If you
have a newer home, chances are it isn’t really
even a fireplace mantel at all. “A builder’s
idea of a fireplace mantel is a couple of 1 x 4s
on the sides, a 2 x 6 on top and couple of
nails,” Pigott says.
If you have that kind of structure, don’t fret.
It just means the slim boards are that much
easier to remove. If it’s a substantial
fireplace mantel that just isn’t eye-catching,
examine the installation. You’re likely to find
you won’t need a contractor to remove and
replace it.
Fireplace Mantel Trends
So what kinds of fireplace mantels are
homeowners clamoring for today? It turns out
that ornate, even Victorian, fireplace mantels
have reclaimed their throne in American living
rooms. Pigott says tiger oak, mahogany and
cherry are the most popular woods used to create
those ornate mantels.
“People want big mantels, like those you found
in the 1880s—grand, palatial mantels with
mirrors and columns,” Pigott says, adding
traditional styles don’t have to contrast with
modern fixtures. “You can hide a flat-screen TV
behind a mirror on your mantel.”
Economy Fireplace Mantels
If you want traditional style but have a more
modern budget, recent manufacturing technology
has created an array of MDF, or presswood,
fireplace mantels. Easy to install and costing
hundreds less, economy fireplace mantels can be
dressed up with fireplace screens and tool sets
in stunning finishes that offset the mantel’s
paint, which is applied in the absence of real
wood grain.
Custom Fireplace Mantels
If you want to decide the style, scope and cost
of your fireplace mantel, a custom fireplace
mantel may be the answer. Previously, homeowners
were restricted by the material available at
local lumberyards and the cost of carpenters.
Now, it’s easy to measure your fireplace, decide
on the building material, choose your style and
e-mail in a request for an estimate. When your
custom fireplace mantel arrives, it’s easy to
install as a do-it-yourself project, or hire a
local handyman for the job. Custom mantels are
so simple to order and install that Pigott says
50 percent of all of his orders are for custom
mantels.
With more and more homeowners defining fireplace
mantels as major décor pieces, it’s helpful to
know that factory-direct accessibility in
today’s fireplace mantel industry makes it
easier to afford premium fireplace mantels. At
Brick-Anew, we’ve been drawing families around
beautifully remodeled fireplaces for years. And
with our complete line of every kind of
fireplace mantel imaginable available on our Web
site, your new family gathering space is just a
click away. Choose from hand-hewn or
manufactured, finished or unfinished, beautiful
Asian choi wood or MDF—you’ll find every style
fireplace mantel, for every budget. |
