update on the mantle...

We put the mantle back up on the wall this weekend. Jerome just finished drawing up the plans for the portion above the mantle.

At the beginning (back in 2006) we had thought that we would cut out two areas in the wall above the mantle and create some shadow boxes…that idea is evolving.

I saw a picture of a fireplace in a Better Homes & Gardens magazine. This fireplace did not have shadow boxes, but instead it had a kind of paneling…like wainscoting. So, that is the idea we are going with. I was thinking that if I had Jerome do all that work of cutting out two holes in the wall and building boxes to fit in said holes – how would he feel if I would only decorate those shadow boxes with the stars that I currently have on the mantle? I am still planning on putting those stars up and the old storm window for the side lights, because I like the look.

Tomorrow night, after we “work out” at Bally’s, we will go to Home Depot and pick up some of the materials, like the wood and the crown molding.

We are hoping to have this done before we have our friends Agata and Roberto over, since they are the ones giving us the hardest time about how long it’s been taking to build this thing.