Monday, August 3, 2009

Got me a Mantle!

A couple of months ago, I posted about my basement fireplace. I had no idea where to begin but someone did this for me on Polyvore! A vintage mantle was exactly what I was hoping for and seeing it come to life was fun. But where to find a vintage mantle? Especially on a budget? I'd seen two at the flea market in March but one was too small and the other way too big.


When we got to the flea market on Saturday, just inside, I saw this!


Now, it was not perfect. The opening needed to be widened in order to fit around the insert in my fireplace. I passed it up. I walked the entire massive building and kept thinking about it before finally reaching the end of the rows and rows of vendors and going back. I figured it if was still there, I'd buy it. If not, it was not meant to be but when we made our way back, there it was. It had come out of a house in Pennsylvania only 2 days before. Sold!

Initially, I thought I'd leave the finish exactly as it was. I thought I could just brush it off, but after getting it home, we realized that it was filthy. I mean I'm not even sure what some of the things that were on it were, but it was disgusting. So, I cleaned it but I also realized that I could not leave the chippy finish. There were chips falling off everywhere and old chippy paint + kids do not mix. My father knew another dad who lost his daughter to lead poisoning from eating paint chips. My girls are still in the "put everything in your mouth" stage and I don't need a child of mine meeting the same fate due to a decor choice. You can barely see here, but there is a little swirl detail covered with loads of paint.

The good news for me is that my dad has agreed to strip it and paint it for me. It would be very difficult for me to use chemicals like that with my girls around so I'm grateful that he'll take on the job. The wood underneath is beautiful and I'm sure it would look great stained, but since this is going in the basement, I need brightness so it will get a coat of antique white.



I cannot wait to have this installed. I've been hating the way our fireplace looks for 5 years and am so excited to finally have a mantle. Its going to look so much better than the bland expanse of brick wall that's there now. I was so excited to find this that we left and didn't even see the second half of the flea market!

13 comments:

  1. Love it! Can't wait to see the finished project. Deffinately it was meant to be yours and Oh..what a thoughtful Dad.
    Blessings
    Roxanne @ Beverly Sandhills

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love it, I missed one on Saturday by just minutes, but I guess it wasn't meant to be!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a great find! I wish our house had a fireplace because I would want that exact same thing! Can't wait to see the final project!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is going to look great! Big thanks to your dad to taking on the redo:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love it... can not wait to see it become your dream mantle... You go girl!, xoxo~Kathy~ @ Sweet Up-North Mornings...

    ReplyDelete
  6. GORGEOUS!!! Too bad you can't leave it as is, it is so lovely. But I totally understand the need to refinish! Can't wait to see it up and mounted~

    ReplyDelete
  7. Melanie,
    That is awesome!!
    I love that you left is shabby looking.

    blessings,
    Barbara Jean

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a great find!! I can't wait to see it installed!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I am so happy for you. Your Dad is a sweetheart and I am sure he is so willing to help you. Blessings, Sandi

    ReplyDelete
  10. Now that is one charming mantle with lots of character! I love it!

    ReplyDelete
  11. love it. where is this flea market??

    ReplyDelete
  12. It's beautiful. What flea market did you go to? Eastern Market?

    ReplyDelete

Comments? I love comments!