Bedroom mantle continued

The next step after framing was to drywall the mantle and install the corner bead. I had enough leftover scraps of drywall to do the whole thing. This step was relatively simple, although it was my first time working with bullnose cornerbead. The bullnose is just around the opening where the TV goes. The trickiest part was getting the arched bullnose to fit the curve properly, it just took some extra time to trim it all to fit good.


A few coats of mud and a little sanding later, things are starting to look alot better. Here is a closeup of the bullnosed arch. The plywood area behind the TV will eventually be tiled to match the actual mantle and hearth.


Here's how it looks currently, fully built in and part of the room now. I still need to put crown molding along the top edge. The two "rectangular bump outs" are strictly cosmetic to add some more detail when I install the crown. The tile leaning against the wall is what will go along the very bottom and also behind the TV. The bad news is the gas firebox I had framed this out to fit is out of stock now at Lowes, and it was a seasonal item. I searched online, and also contacted Lowe's corporate headquarters to try and locate one. I might not be able to get the firebox until September!

Bedroom Fireplace Mantle with TV Niche

Over the weekend I began framing the mantle area for the fireplace in the master bedroom. I started out by making a simple rectangular hearth out of 2x6's and screwed that to the floor. Next I ran the gas line, electric, coax cable and ethernet cable up through the hearth, as the TV will be mounted above the fireplace.

The niche area for the TV will have a curved/arched top. I took two pieces of OSB to cut my template out of. I clamped them together so both pieces would be identical after I made the cut.


Once the two pieces were cut, I had to build them out to the proper thickness by nailing in spacer blocks. I needed to use several of them so that when I drywall this curve there will be plenty of spots to screw into.


The next step was to mount the arched piece I just built, into the framework for the mantle. In the pic below, the TV will mount in the upper area and the firebox will be in the bottom. You can also see the gas line and wires coming up through the hearth in the lower right corner.


I put the marble mantle in place to make sure everything was fitting together properly. The next step is to drywall everything.

to be continued...