Put a Time Capsule in Your New Fireplace Surround

When my wife and I built our new home our contractor never mentioned that a fireplace mantel or fireplace surround would not be part of his work and that he would charge extra for these. We were so tired of his “this is an extra” routine that I did a little research and found that I could buy mantels online and install them myself, so we chose this route rather than pay another penny to the contractor.

We used extra travertine tile from the bathroom to make a facing and a little hearth for the fireplace in our new master bedroom suite and we bought some nice marble tile from Home Depot to use for the main fireplace in our living room. Our tile subcontractor agreed to install the travertine and marble as a side job for a very small fee since they were on the job site anyway. He even brought several of the marble pieces home and rounded the edges so they would look nice blending to the edge of the firebox.

Ordered a Mantel and Surround Online

Next we ordered our mantels online. We ordered an unfinished oak mantel shelf for our bedroom and a stately formal full surround for our living room in a nice paint grade wood including primer but not final paint. Our painter was still working when they arrived and after dry fitting the pieces, we had him stain the oak shelf to match our oak bookcases and put the first coat of white paint on the surround to match our woodwork.

Mounting the shelf was very easy and actually took only a few minutes. The surround was a little trickier but was done easily in two hours by my wife and me even with the assistance of our toddler son. When we were almost ready to do the final installation, I got the bright idea that we should put a time capsule into the cavity inside the surround. My wife and son thought this would be a great idea.

We found a metal can in the garage slightly larger than a soda can and put some items inside. We folded up the front page only of that day’s Los Angeles Times, we included a dollar bill and some coins, a toy from my son and a bunch of other little items that we thought represented our lives at that time. We included a note from us to whoever finds it someday in the future.

Placed the Time Capsule inside the Fireplace Surround

We placed the “time capsule” into the cavity inside the mantel shelf portion of the fireplace surround, raised the surround in place and attached it to the previously installed mounting boards with some small screws. I wanted to use screws instead of finish nails in case we needed to remove it. I puttied over the screws and we added the finish molding around the inside of the surround where it met the facing material.

At this point, we stepped back and admired our work and took pictures. Later the painter came back and sealed all the edges with silicone and applied the final coat of paint. We have been very happy with our self-installed fireplace mantel shelf and fireplace surround and we have our own little secret that there is a time capsule hidden inside.

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