Fire mantle before & after
When we moved into our house a few years ago the lounge room had an original fire mantle in front of a boarded-up fireplace. As part of our on-going house renovations we decided to try and restore the fire mantle....
Fire mantle - before
First of all we stripped it all back to reveal the original timber, and gave it a really good sand and polish. Although it looked lovely after stripping it back sadly it no longer went with the rest of the room post reno's (especially since we opened up the original fireplace). Instead of getting rid of it we decided not to waste our hard work but to find other uses for it.... 
Fire mantle - after
Part of the mantle legs created a wide shelf in the exposed fireplace, we knocked out the centre panel and replaced the wood backing with mirror to create a mirror in our hallway, and finally we used the top of the mantle to create a shelf above the old stove in our kitchen!
It's lovely to be able to re-use something that was originally part of the house and recycle into 'new' furniture.
Fire mantle - before
First of all we stripped it all back to reveal the original timber, and gave it a really good sand and polish. Although it looked lovely after stripping it back sadly it no longer went with the rest of the room post reno's (especially since we opened up the original fireplace). Instead of getting rid of it we decided not to waste our hard work but to find other uses for it.... Fire mantle - afterPart of the mantle legs created a wide shelf in the exposed fireplace, we knocked out the centre panel and replaced the wood backing with mirror to create a mirror in our hallway, and finally we used the top of the mantle to create a shelf above the old stove in our kitchen!It's lovely to be able to re-use something that was originally part of the house and recycle into 'new' furniture.