Fireplace Mantel Trends

Fireplace Mantel Trends
by: Sam Wilhoit

Fireplace mantels are no longer permanent, immovable wood surfaces. With today’s newer manufacturing processes, fireplace mantels have now become fixtures homeowners can use to update, redecorate or define a rooms look and feel.

Fireplace Mantel Focal Point

If you’re considering replacing your fireplace mantel, Georgia fireplace mantel manufacturer Park Pigott suggests first re-thinking your mantel’s importance. “Number one, a mantel is a piece of furniture. It just happens to go around a fireplace,” Pigott says. “A fireplace with a mantel should be a focal point of a room. When you walk in you should be able to say, ‘Wow, isn’t that lovely!’”

Size up your current fireplace mantel. If you have a newer home, chances are it isn’t really even a fireplace mantel at all. “A builder’s idea of a fireplace mantel is a couple of 1 x 4s on the sides, a 2 x 6 on top and couple of nails,” Pigott says.

If you have that kind of structure, don’t fret. It just means the slim boards are that much easier to remove. If it’s a substantial fireplace mantel that just isn’t eye-catching, examine the installation. You’re likely to find you won’t need a contractor to remove and replace it. And since sites like http://Brick-Anew.com offer manufacturing and shipping on fireplace mantels—something that used to be unheard of—it’s easier than ever to side-step that contractor and select a brand-new fireplace mantel on the Internet.

Fireplace Mantel Trends

So what kinds of fireplace mantels are homeowners clamoring for today? It turns out that ornate, even Victorian, fireplace mantels have reclaimed their throne in American living rooms. Pigott says tiger oak, mahogany and cherry are the most popular woods used to create those ornate mantels.

“People want big mantels, like those you found in the 1880s—grand, palatial mantels with mirrors and columns,” Pigott says, adding traditional styles don’t have to contrast with modern fixtures. “You can hide a flat-screen TV behind a mirror on your mantel.”

Economy Fireplace Mantels

If you want traditional style but have a more modern budget, recent manufacturing technology has created an array of MDF, or presswood, fireplace mantels. Easy to install and costing hundreds less, economy fireplace mantels can be dressed up with fireplace screens and tool sets in stunning finishes that offset the mantel’s paint, which is applied in the absence of real wood grain.

Custom Fireplace Mantels

If you want to decide the style, scope and cost of your fireplace mantel, a custom fireplace mantel may be the answer. Previously, homeowners were restricted by the material available at local lumberyards and the cost of carpenters. Now, it’s easy to measure your fireplace, decide on the building material, choose your style and e-mail in a request for an estimate. When your custom fireplace mantel arrives, it’s easy to install as a do-it-yourself project, or hire a local handyman for the job. Custom mantels are so simple to order and install that Pigott says 50 percent of all of his orders are for custom mantels.

With more and more homeowners defining fireplace mantels as major décor pieces, it’s helpful to know that factory-direct accessibility in today’s fireplace mantel industry makes it easier to afford premium fireplace mantels. At Brick-Anew, we’ve been drawing families around beautifully remodeled fireplaces for years. And with our complete line of every kind of fireplace mantel imaginable available on our Web site, your new family gathering space is just a click away. Choose from hand-hewn or manufactured, finished or unfinished, beautiful Asian choi wood or MDF—you’ll find every style fireplace mantel, for every budget.

About The Author
By Sam Wilhoit of Brick Anew provider of fireplace glass doors: Fireplace Glass Doors, Brick-Anew has been a providor of fireplace paint & accessories since 1997. Please link to Brick Anew when using this article.