I completely demolished the old fireplace and mantle, and built an all new one with a new tile backsplash/hearth. There wasn’t a good place to put the TV and electronics (cable box, dvd player, surround sound, etc) in the living room, so I built the Mantle as a hallow cabinet which can hold all of the electronics inside without being seen. I then used the Logitech Harmony Smart Control with an IR sensor to control all of the electronics inside the mantle while keeping everything out of sight.
The actual fireplace was constructed using MDF, and then I painted the whole thing with a paint sprayer. The mantle was constructed using 2x4’s and ½” thick Birch plywood. Then I stained it with a dark walnut stain, and satin poly. The tile backsplash and hearth is Marble subway tiles from Home Depot.
You can see some before and after photos in the attachments. I still need to add some trim around the base of the fireplace and around the firebox.
I completely demolished the old fireplace and mantle, and built an all new one with a new tile backsplash/hearth. There wasn’t a good place to put the TV and electronics (cable box, dvd player, surround sound, etc) in the living room, so I built the Mantle as a hallow cabinet which can hold all of the electronics inside without being seen. I then used the Logitech Harmony Smart Control with an IR sensor to control all of the electronics inside the mantle while keeping everything out of sight. The actual fireplace was constructed using MDF, and then I painted the whole thing with a paint sprayer. The mantle was constructed using 2x4’s and ½” thick Birch plywood. Then I stained it with a dark walnut stain, and satin poly. The tile backsplash and hearth is Marble subway tiles from Home Depot. You can see some before and after photos in the attachments. I still need to add some trim around the base of the fireplace and around the firebox.
