Updating the Fireplace Mantle and Tile

New Craftsman style tiles on the floor and surround of the firebox. We found the old wooden mantle in the garage after we bought the house. It was sitting in a pool of water had been sand blasted to remove the paint. but that effectively destroyed the smooth finish of the wood, and created large woodgrain "grooves" that went deep into the surface of the wood. Tather than applying a new veneer, I use Zar wood patch to fill the grooves, and sanded over with the micro sander.

You see me sanding the fireplace surround before the tile was set. I actually removed the surround to lay the tile, then put the facade over the front. The edges were tough, and I still need a final bit of trim along the line between the time and the wood of the mantle surround.

We used a grout color that was taken from the reddish accent color within the tiles themselves, in order to give a little more "pop" to each tile.

Here's some of that process.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• prairie tile
• craftsman tile
• fireplace mantle
• fireplace surround
• wood patch
• decor
• interior
• decorating
• refinishing

[PixelHoundSF]

Shoot, I am going to need to look that one up. Wow, I didn't know anyone looked at this stuff. I will look it up now, and post when I locate the name. I got the tiles from FloorCraft in San Francisco's Bayshore district. They were awesome helping me find period tiles with a handmade quality. I really do love these.

[luckysigil]

wow! very beautiful!

question: Do I put the tiles (of the hearth) first and then place the legs on top?

[PixelHoundSF]

@luckysigil Yes, tiles went down first, then the entire mantle and leg assembly mounted over the outside.

Also, we needed fashion an iron "tile edge" to hold the inside edge / lip of the tile. Our firebox is quite large, so we made a custom edge to maximize the amount of tile that could be laid.

[PixelHoundSF]

Santa baby!

[luckysigil]

@PixelHoundSF thank you so much! I can't get over how beautiful it looks!

[tileart1]

is the name of that tile cypress or willow?