I'm Beaming
There it is, the new mantel over the fireplace.
It's a beam of white fir, stained, coated with polyurethane and hung as a floating shelf on the wall, with no exterior visible brackets. It replaces the dinky painted shelf that was there.
Utterly simple in design, but what an improvement. We added stained wood strips at the front edges of the bookshelves too, and that was another plain but effective enhancement.
It's rustic, but it suits the style of the house and the western wood furniture I'm using in the living room. The chunkiness of the beam and the strips of wood on the shelves give weight to this wall. It works with the big raised hearth that juts out and the big wood rafter beams above.
The dining room side of the two way fireplace has a new, identical beam also.
It's an even simpler look, without any bookshelves on the sides, so the dining room mantel really does just float on the wall.
As simple as these beams look, they were not effortless to put up. There is nothing behind the wall over the firebox. No center studs. The entire fireplace wall is just an open shell housing the metal flue pipe, clad with sheetrock.
But our creative handyman / woodworker Tim L. found a way and he did a great job. He even spent some time on a high ladder fixing some of our door and window leaks.
There is nothing eye-catching about these plain wood mantels -- no one will walk in the house and say oooh, what great beams you got there. But by fitting in so unobtrusively, they add a nice background touch to the rustic look of our casa.
I like them. I'm beaming about my new beams!
So, a little inventory . . .
It's a beam of white fir, stained, coated with polyurethane and hung as a floating shelf on the wall, with no exterior visible brackets. It replaces the dinky painted shelf that was there.
Utterly simple in design, but what an improvement. We added stained wood strips at the front edges of the bookshelves too, and that was another plain but effective enhancement.
It's rustic, but it suits the style of the house and the western wood furniture I'm using in the living room. The chunkiness of the beam and the strips of wood on the shelves give weight to this wall. It works with the big raised hearth that juts out and the big wood rafter beams above.
The dining room side of the two way fireplace has a new, identical beam also.
It's an even simpler look, without any bookshelves on the sides, so the dining room mantel really does just float on the wall.
As simple as these beams look, they were not effortless to put up. There is nothing behind the wall over the firebox. No center studs. The entire fireplace wall is just an open shell housing the metal flue pipe, clad with sheetrock.
But our creative handyman / woodworker Tim L. found a way and he did a great job. He even spent some time on a high ladder fixing some of our door and window leaks.
There is nothing eye-catching about these plain wood mantels -- no one will walk in the house and say oooh, what great beams you got there. But by fitting in so unobtrusively, they add a nice background touch to the rustic look of our casa.
I like them. I'm beaming about my new beams!
So, a little inventory . . .
The green pitcher and the blue-green pitcher were made by Sue Sasso of Sassyblue Pottery on Cape Cod. Sue and I go waaaay back, we worked together at Cigna, literally for decades. She and Jack are potters in their retirement, and are known for their deep blue (Sassyblue) glazes.
The blue / green vase on the living room mantel is also hers.
The tiny blue and tan smudge pot is from Rebecca, and holds just enough fragrant sage to burn when the house needs to rid itself of bad spirits, which it needs sometimes. Not often, but sometimes.
The needlework framed art is stichery by Jim's daughter Hope. She does beautiful work and has gifted us many intricate needlework pieces over the years.
The two watercolors on the living room mantel are paintings of the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming, by a local artist not far from the HF Bar ranch, bought in a gallery in Buffalo, WY 30 years ago.
The felt dolls were bought from two different Navajo dollmakers at Indian Market here in Santa Fe.
The folded flag was presented to Jim at his father's funeral. His Dad was 97 when he died, a veteran of WWII, and honored for that. There are shell casings from the gun salute at the funeral inside the folded flag and Jim checks every once in a while to make sure they haven't fallen out and are still there. They are.
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