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How to give your fireplace mantle a face lift
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If you bought an older home and are wondering how to disguise some of the decor that are obviously dated, sometimes, replacing can be costly. There are a few tricks that can be done instead of replacing every outdated detail. Always assess whether or not a detail can be updated through the simplest means first. Fireplaces are sometimes an area that can date a home with the choice of materials used. Rustic was a big design theme back 30 plus years ago. Homeowners now prefer lighter finishes, and easily paired colors and finishes.
Out dated fire place mantles can be beautifully disguised..Paint your mantle the right color you want. You can leave the mantle in place if you like but make sure you tape off the exposed areas by the wall so you will not get white paint on the rest of your fireplace. When painting over existing finishes, match the trim and crown molding already in the room.
Measure your mantle, front and sides. Now cut your molding to correspond with these measurements, you will need your miter box and saw to get the two cuts you need for the corners. Attach the long front cut molding first to the mantle and nail in place with finish nails. Then move on to the side pieces. Nail in place with finish nails.
Replace any original brackets with some that matched your moldings, if you like you can simply paint your brackets in the matching paint color you have chosen. As stated before, you will want to make sure to use painters tape along your wall where you may be painting your brackets. If you are just adding a new mantle you will have to attach it first or you may do all these steps before your put it up on the fireplace wall. In this case you will want to use a level to get the mantle perfectly straight.
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