Further Reading

A decorative electric fireplace is always a site to behold in any interior space. Aside from its ability to provide warmth during cold seasons, this fire feature's aesthetics adds a touch of class to its visual appeal. While the simulated fire and music are often considered as the main accents of this furnishing, its mantel is another factor that makes it stand out from the rest of the fixtures around the home. However, as purchasing a new mantel could be pretty expensive, making your own could save you more bucks that you could use for other things.

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 part is often incorporated to enhance the space where a fireplace would be placed and doubles as a decorative feature where a homeowner can place different objects such as photographs and figurines. Usually a mantel is separate from the fireplace, but can also be purchased already connected to the said fire feature.

Though you can simply purchase the mantel of your electric fireplace heater, building your own custom mantel is a great way to enhance the character of your fire feature. By doing your own mantel, you would be able to create a unique piece that would best represent your personality and style. Although this might be a bit hard to accomplish, your efforts would surely pay off as this project is way cheaper than actually buying a pre-made mantel. To begin your mantel project you would need the following items: saw, nail gun, crown molding, wood glue, router, level, wooden boards and paint.

Measure your fireplace and mark the location where you will place your fireplace mantel. Ad 3/4 of an inch to your measurements as these additions would correspond to the thickness of the boards you are about to use. Make sure to use a level when marking to achieve straight lines. Now, begin creating your mantel design based on the theme you want and be sure to draw it on a sketchbook and scale down its dimensions based from the measurement 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 each leg and connect the three together by gluing and nailing them. Mount the legs on the wall by securing the sides of the box with nails. To decorate your mantel legs, install crown moldings around the sides of the legs.

Now that your fireplace mantel legs are already in place, the next thing to do is to create the top and shelf of the mantel from a frieze board, and then secure it at the top of the mantel legs. Nail the mantel shelf into the wall, and install crown moldings around its sides. To achieve smoother edges, use a router to scrap of tiny particles on the edge of your mantel. 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.

A decorative electric fireplace can be achieved by customizing your fireplace mantel. Although this is not an easy DIY project, doing your own mantel permits you to capture the design you wanted to incorporate on your electric fireplace heater. You only need to be creative enough, and you should have the patience to finish this project to get the result that you expect in order to highlight your fireplace.