Articles

A decorative electric fireplace inside the home never ceases to capture attention. Other than its ability to provide heat, its design and structure are what makes it all the more interesting. Although the simulated fire and music are what heightens the beauty of an electric fireplace, its mantel is also a contributing element that makes it unique. However, as purchasing a mantel can be a bit pricey, especially nowadays that you have to save money for other important things, it would be more preferable to create your own mantel.

Before we start with the steps on how to make a mantel for your electric fireplace heater, it would be more appropriate to identify what mantel is. Basically, mantel is the shelf-like feature that sits on the wall often located above the mouth of the fireplace. This fixture is integrated in order to widen the space where the fireplace would be situated, and also serves as a decorative feature for the fireplace. Commonly, the mantel is available as a separate piece from the fireplace, but can also be bought already assembled with the fire feature.

Even though you can simply purchase the mantel of your electric fireplace heater, it would be much better to build or customize your own mantel to further improve the character of your fire feature. By constructing your own mantel, you would be able to create a unique fixture based from your chosen concept or theme. Though this project might require more than a DIY ability, your efforts would surely pay off as this is a cheap way to get quality mantel without purchasing. To cap off your mantel project you should have the following materials: saw, nail gun, crown molding, wood glue, router, level, wooden boards and paint.

Measure the length and width of your fireplace along with the location where you would install your fireplace mantel. Be sure to add at 3/4 of an inch to the measurements you made so as to properly accommodate the thickness of the boards that you will use. Don't forget to use a level while marking the location of your mantel to achieve straight lines. After doing the measurements, do your mantel design in accordance to your desired theme and scale down the dimensions of your mantel based from the measurements you did for your fireplace.

Create the legs of your fireplace mantel with the use of three boards to form an incomplete box on the wall. Cut the side and front pieces of your mantel legs and connect them together by using wood glue, and afterwards nail them together for a sturdier finish. Secure the sides of the box to the wall. To accentuate the look of your mantel legs, install pieces of crown moldings around the side of the legs.

Now that you have your fireplace mantel legs in place, create the top and shelf of the mantel by using a frieze board and then place it on top of the legs. To ensure that the mantel shelf and top are strong, nail them to the wall and place crown moldings around its sides for decoration. For smoother finish, form the edges of your mantel with the aid of a router. Lastly, paint your homemade mantel according to your preferred color, but make sure that it would complement your home's color scheme to maintain design continuity.