slatted fireplace surround and mantle

You done a great job on this mantle. Welcome to Lumber Jocks.

Very nicely done. The lighting is a nice touch. Thanks for posting.

God Bless
tom

This is a nice looking mantle. It is unique and certainly is the focal point for the room. I agree with Tom that the lighting added a nice element to the mantle's design and function.

Looks Great! Very modern. I like the lighting accent. With my paranoid personality, I would be concerned with combustible material being so close to the opening of the fireplace.

Very sharp looking, great project for the flat screen and the lighting is first rate as well. Thanks for posting BC

That is excellent, both in design, proportions and execution and goes with your modern interior.

You asked if this project was acceptable for posting on Lumberjocks? I think so! Welcome aboard!

That looks amazing. I'm glad my wife isn't an LJ member, or I'd have yet another project for the house! She would LOVE this. Very nice work.

Very nice. Are those speakers in the white panels on the sides and hanging form the celing?

I like the contemporary design, however, I agree with Kevin with the proximity of the wood to the firebox. I am in the process of building a craftsman style fireplace surround and after reviewing the building codes for our area found the setback must be at least 12" for any combustible material.

looks GREAT. curious why you didn't just use a bit of cord-light instead of three up-lights behind the TV to try and give it a bit more of a glow as opposed to spot light style.

all in all, REALLY nice. Also like the sunk-in speakers, unfortunate that my wall is concrete where the TV is otherwise i'd do the same..

Thanks for the compliments. I'm glad to hear everyone deems it worthy of inclusion on LJ. To answer some of the questions:

lighting
It's hard to capture on camera, but the lighting actually has a nice even glow beneath the mantle and above the TV when they are dimmed. In the photo, it looks like 3 distinct beams though. I considered rope light, and LED light bars, but I didn't think they would put out quite enough light. All in all, this solution looks pretty good in person and only cost $35. They are a 6-pack of under-cabinet puck lights from Lowe's. I feel that spending a lot more on lighting would only have a slight increase in lighting quality.

fire safety
Ensuring that the wall wouldn't go up in flames was actually something I took very seriously on this project. Two of my neighbors are an architect and a builder, so I got a lot of advice from them. The woodworking overlays the existing granite tile, which I believe is kosher. The wood does not touch the tile above the fireplace, which is where it gets hottest. From reading the manual on the firebox, I have met all of the installation criteria and local building codes. The biggest sticking point is that combustibles can not touch the metal of the firebox. I accomplished this by just leaving the old tile work in place, which was easier also.

speakers
There are in-wall speakers to the left and right of the wood wall and the center channel is in an angled box protruding from the ceiling. It's more obtrusive than I wanted, but it's the lesser of evils versus plunking a big white speaker in the wood.

In the words of "the dude," it really ties the room together. The old fireplace was a bit forgettable in my opinion.

You can see more photos of the build in progress in this gallery.

Here's a before picture for reference.

Hi! Newbie here! Just curious if there are actual plans /step by step tutorial on how you created this masterpiece? Would love to duplicate but have no idea where to start! Thanks!

I love this idea! What are the slats made of? I'm looking for fireplace ideas and this would be perfect