Hello, Friends,
How are you? I hope you are well.
Thank you so much for stopping by.
When we looked at the house, a portrait of John Wayne was hanging in front of the satellite hookup.
A life sized statue of him was hiding in a closet or shed because he was on the porch on her move out day. She must be a huge fan.
The firebox surround at our little weekend place was not our style. Bill wanted to rip it out but paint made a huge improvement.
Within 24 hours of our occupancy, it already looked so much better.
We knew, however, that the angle on the shelf was incorrect.
We think this was made by the owner's brother. We've knick named him the nail gun king because he used so many nails to make stuff.
We think this was made from cedar from the property.
The shelf didn't bother me enough to do anything about it at the time. Lately, I've been checking Facebook Marketplace for an antique mantel. It would have to be a small one, however, due to the width of this corner. The fake log burner runs on propane. We've never lit this but according to the propane company it is vented properly even though there is no chimney.
Bill has been very focused on roofing, wiring and insulated the shop the last few month.
I mentioned that I still wanted a new mantel. He hopped up and immediately took the old one off. It was held on with some sort of heavy duty metal bolt. It was sturdy so we do have to give one to the nail gun king.
We discussed some designs and he headed out to the shop to get to work.
Bill and I have similar taste but his runs a tad more rustic than mine.
He built a simple box and brought it inside.
We talked about gussying it up with molding (which I'd prefer) but I suggested we stop and live with a barn beam (his style) look for the time being.
He took it back outside to sand. He beat it up a little bit with a wire wheel that can be used on his drill.
He loves that it looks like rough cut lumber.
Matching the stain to the trim around the firebox was my job.
I used every stain in my East Texas arsenal but the previous stain had a red undertone. There was no matching it with what I had. Briefly, I thought about a wash with red paint but in the end we didn't really care for the red undertone so that seemed a waste of time.
My mouse sander was a perfect tool to take off the finish coat and some of the stain.
I wondered if the trim was shellacked which could have caused the look of the red.
Matching stains isn't my favorite but I was able to get really close.
My parents picked up the painting at the village art fair.
The sky was avocado green. I toned it down with a gray wash.
He's so good at this kind of thing.
I may have him take an inch or two off of this but I'm going to live with it for a while. I'm used to angled mantel shelf.
I will still keep my eyes peeled for an antique mantel.
That's all for now.
See you soon.
Katie
