Nice! You gotta love when they give you nearly free reign. Open a magazine, and they say "make it like this, I like this style"

 

just realized i forgot the whole point of this thread; do the porpotions look correct? the height they want (cause there is a shelf at that height and they like it). i thin it looks ok but i havent done a surround before.

 

Looks like a good manlte to me and size looks right to me . Post some pics when done always nice to see different manlte styles.

 

Ok, as you are asking. My opinion is just that, and since the drawing doesn't show the fireplace in context with the room - ceiling height, wall space, windows near by, other architectural details - this is what I think :whistling subject to not knowing what I'm talking about :laughing:.

I like to see a flat detail around the heat source - could be 4"-6" wide of flat. Could be wood boards or tile or even a series of wood square tiles, but all kept within 1" of the face of the zero clearance heat source. Then I would scale down the width of the columns. With the flat that I described the column heights get taller and more slender and so the header gets scaled down too. The mantel gets set up a little higher and in this case I think it could have more mass. I admit that I would be more inclined to have the columns carry the mantel terminating in a cap detail with a header panel set between, BUT I like your basic idea as drawn - just go narrower.

 

Ok, as you are asking. My opinion is just that, and since the drawing doesn't show the fireplace in context with the room - ceiling height, wall space, windows near by, other architectural details...

It looks pretty proportionate to itself, but like Rs said, it'd be nice to see the whole area if possible.

 

its on a 45* wall thats not much wider than the mantle width and the ceiling is 8'11"
i am going to have to measure the 45* wall again to make sure i got the right dimensions, my notes were kind of sloppy.

i will play with narrowing it up a bit this weekend and see what it looks like.

thanks

 

Rs is correct. I would go with a flat piece of stone/tile around the fireplace.

 

no tile or stone. they dont want anything like that. just painted wood.

 

black bear thats RAWWRing advice my friend

 

At least draw in the fire box.

When you introduce that rectangle into the mix, the size and height of it will have a huge effect on the proportions of the mantel.

Or go with what you got, it will probably look fine. But we can't be sure.

 

without a flat area off the firebox you are going to dwarf the fireplace. Especially on a 13 foot wall. I would seriously run this by the ho. It could bite you in the end. just looking out for you.

here is a pic of what im talking about. Built this a while back. Very minimal flat on the sides of the fireplace. Now imagine bringing the top down to match the side reveals. Would look like poooo

 

the firebox is the opening i have drawn.
the fireplace isnt on the 13' wall, the wall is only a little bigger than the mantle.
i have a built in desk along a 13' wall.
the pic you put up is almost exactly what is happening, just not as far out from the wall.
i am going to work on tuning up the drawing a bit with the sugestions i have so far.
thanks all

 

i will post up what i come up with also.
:thumbsup:

 

Chris,

Here are a couple of places with great information on them. The first has pretty good illustrations of the Classical Orders and some basic terminology, but not much in the way of detail. Nonetheless, I think it would be worth a look at for every trim carpenter. Nearly everything we do is/should be, derrived from those orders.

http://www.cmhpf.org/kids/dictionary/ClassicalOrders.html

The narrative slide show below I think is the single most important video/article/description /exhortation ever done for trim carpenters, and it was done by a trim carpenter besides. What's more, it is there for the viewing and is free.

It was done by Gary Katz, who at some point in his long career as a trim carpenter, began to question why some jobs looked great and others just didn't look right. But unlike some of us (me, for instance) it didn’t take him 25 years of building things before he stumbled into jobs for a great European classical architect who designed huge homes in the classical style, to begin to put all the parts together. Instead, Gary began to notice, then study, older homes and periods in architecture. He cut out years of blundering around before finally stumbling into what has been known for thousands of years, simply with a little studying.

No matter how good one's technical skills are, the end result is only as good as the overall design, proportions and choice of details.

He goes over a lot of very valuable information for those who wind up doing design work for homeowners, and his examples crown molding types is nothing short of essential information.

On large fancy jobs, being able to talk to architects in their own language can have benefits as well. Before long, you’ll find them asking your opinion on how this or that detail looks. Eventually, they may allow you to substitute crown moldings – a huge asset if the one they have spec’d on the detail sheet is not copable. A number of times I have had knives re-ground from an uncopable detail to a copable one.

If you pay attention to some of the fireplace surrounds in the video (and what Gary is saying about them), you will probably be able to label the style that RS (and I) both personally like. He does make a couple mistakes (from old habit) when talking about casing heads (or entablatures) by calling them pediments right after telling us that they are NOT pediments – for which he took a bunch of guff. Just goes to show how deep mistaken terminology can sink into our brains.

http://www.garymkatz.com/JLC/Presentation-08/CommonTerms-6/CommonTerms-6_controller.swf

Cheers,
Jim

 

Chris,

http://www.garymkatz.com/JLC/Presentation-08/CommonTerms-6/CommonTerms-6_controller.swf

Cheers,
Jim

Yeah, this is an excellent resource. Gary is a treasure as a teacher to those of us in this biz :thumbup:.

Need to check out your other link. Thanks clampman :thumbsup:

 

i love this site. i spend just just about every night reading a lot and learning more.

 

I made the mantle/ surround.
It's getting painted after its set. I might redo the top cause i think its too narrow but others wise I am pretty happy with it. I did take the suggestions from here and ran a little flat wood about 2" wide around the fireplace.

 

Looks great Chris :thumbsup:

 

Very nice Chris.

 

came out nice :thumbsup:

 

Looks awesome man, great job. A well done mantle completely changes a room. :thumbsup:

 

That's some awesome work right there man

 

Nice cameo to the left too......

 

Nice cameo to the left too......

Of course you would notice that. My college roommate noticed that first too.

 

It looks like a jointer surround....

 

looks great!

 

I put the pics in show us your work thread in general, but here is the finished product

Btw: who ever said to put the flat stock between the raised panel legs and the fp, as you can see I did that and the ho's both commented how nice of a detail that was.
So thanks to everyone who steered me in the right direction. I even got a nice thank you email saying how great everything was and what a pleasure my self and the paint crew were to work with.