The Second Prong

Got home early today. You can see the reason for that on my other blog site, BlogDog Musings. After a hearty hamburger with Kerry at Fuddrucker's we returned to the condo to install a nice mantle over the fireplace. The original mantel was very rudimentary. Seemed secure enough be we wanted something that highlighted the brick and accented the wood furnishings in the room. And Kerry's choice of a cherry minwax was a mighty fine selection.

The old mantle just popped off its hooks and went out the the trash. We then pulled out the ridiculously inadequate instructions. After measuring and drilling, we installed the support strip into the masonry mollies from the original mantle.

Kerry slathered the wood glue on the top of the mounting strip and then I screwed the mantle proper in the the strip. Like many other things in the construction of the building, the wall was not even and caused the mounting strip to bow a bit but when the mantle was installed the mighty bubble told the most important tale -- it was indeed level.

We left the mantle empty while the glue dried and because of the bowing of the mounting strip, if you jiggle it it while bob a slight bit but it will hold a small clock and two small plants. On the plus side, I won't be hanging my suits and shirts off the mantle any more and I won't empty my pockets on top of it. It's kind of funny how the ugly, old mantle was probably more sturdy than the pretty, new mantle.

By the way, the electrician finally came and installed the bedroom fan, the new switches, the thermostat and fixed the bathroom. Next up, I'll try my hand at replacing the brass fireplace glass doors and then work on the financing aspect of this move.