A Chunk of Wood
I've been looking at big chunks of wood lately. We've been on a tour of lumberyards in Santa Fe, looking for a beam to put up over our fireplace as a mantel. At Spotted Owl Lumberyard we spotted this:
It's locally harvested white fir. There is no lumbering in New Mexico any more -- lumberyards all sell only wood that the National Forest Service has cleared for fire protection or that has fallen. It's all local pine and fir. No one sells hardwoods.
These beams of white fir at Spotted Owl used to look like this:
They are eventually going to look something like this:
My plan is to mount a "floating" (no brackets) straight beam of white fir, stained a nice warm color, over our tiled fireplaces. Something like this look:
We have a two way firebox that is open to both the dining room and to the living room, so we'll need two mantels installed on either side.
What's there now has bothered me since we moved in over a year ago. They are cheap painted boards and brackets with knots showing through and visible screws.
They are identical on both the dining room and living room sides. Just thin board shelves.
The two way fireplace is the center of our house and a focal point when you walk in. We need something more substantial there and more attractive, and I like the visual weight and linear simplicity of a rustic stained beam for a mantel.
We have a handyman that can cut and finish and install the beams, and we found that nice chunk of inexpensive fir that could serve the purpose for both sides. At the same time, he'll take off the faux rope detail wood strips that edge the bookshelves flanking the living room fireplace.
They are thin strips and they look cheap. The detail isn't going to go with the simplicity of the new beam, so the handyman will take them off and dress the shelf edges with a half round piece of molding stained to match the beam.
I'll post pictures of the new mantels when they are all done and the wall is repaired and repainted.
It's locally harvested white fir. There is no lumbering in New Mexico any more -- lumberyards all sell only wood that the National Forest Service has cleared for fire protection or that has fallen. It's all local pine and fir. No one sells hardwoods.
These beams of white fir at Spotted Owl used to look like this:
They are eventually going to look something like this:
My plan is to mount a "floating" (no brackets) straight beam of white fir, stained a nice warm color, over our tiled fireplaces. Something like this look:
We have a two way firebox that is open to both the dining room and to the living room, so we'll need two mantels installed on either side.
What's there now has bothered me since we moved in over a year ago. They are cheap painted boards and brackets with knots showing through and visible screws.
They are identical on both the dining room and living room sides. Just thin board shelves.
The two way fireplace is the center of our house and a focal point when you walk in. We need something more substantial there and more attractive, and I like the visual weight and linear simplicity of a rustic stained beam for a mantel.
We have a handyman that can cut and finish and install the beams, and we found that nice chunk of inexpensive fir that could serve the purpose for both sides. At the same time, he'll take off the faux rope detail wood strips that edge the bookshelves flanking the living room fireplace.
They are thin strips and they look cheap. The detail isn't going to go with the simplicity of the new beam, so the handyman will take them off and dress the shelf edges with a half round piece of molding stained to match the beam.
I'll post pictures of the new mantels when they are all done and the wall is repaired and repainted.
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