For many homeowners of our local 90s homes, there just comes a time when they need to do a complete overhaul of their space. Such was the case for my client. She was ready for a dramatic change to the first floor of her Westside Indianapolis house. Designer Elain Pauley brought me in to help with the fireplace mantel and feature wall. The goal was to give it the modern look that the rest of the home was begin given.

The original mantel would be recognizable to a lot of us here in Greater Indianapolis. The fireplace was located on a large, plain wall with a non-descript white tile and trim wrapping. The homeowner wanted to create a feature wall instead, keeping the clean look while allowing the fireplace to pop. She was not looking for cabinetry, so we created a large, flat stained wood design.

We all worked together as a team to figure out the sizing of the wall to ensure it made a big impact. My client knew she wanted a dark tone to add warmth to the cool whites in the paint and fabrics. I went with poplar for the wood species because it has limited grain, and stained it ebony. We wanted to keep the look of wood on the wall, so we chose a stain that allowed the subtle grain to show through. Otherwise, we would have just painted it black. I then nailed the wood to the wall studs and added edging pieces to hide any imperfections in the wall. I have yet to find a perfectly straight wall, so this edging is important to ensure the wood appeared flush. This bit of engineering (problem-solving with the existing materials) is what I enjoy most about my work.

My client had a tile company install the fireplace surround. Then it was time to build the mantel. Elaine came up with the idea of the offset design (another example of why I enjoy working with designers). The look created more engineering challenges since it did not call for supporting corbels. I had to design the mantel to be a three-sided box so I could bolt it to the wall at the studs, then insert a fourth side to complete the piece. As I always do, all of the building and staining was completed at my workshop to reduce dust and odors in my client’s home.

I also completed a staircase remodel for our client, which you can read about here.

If you are considering a fireplace mantel remodel, I’d be happy to help. Send me an email or give me a call at (317) 679-5890.