For YEARS our fireplace mantle has drove me crazy. Number 1- way too small in my opinion. Number 2- the mantle has been at a slant for as long as I can remember. One day last month, I finally had enough and took the mantle down. I knew I wanted a rustic mantle in replacement so got to looking!

before

You can see how slanted the mantle was in the picture below. I had attached that log to it a year or two ago- I loved hanging stockings from it during Christmas.

After I took it down.

After lots of searching, I found this site: Elmwood Reclaimed Timber. I liked all of the different options they had, including different sizes. It was also helpful to see their photo gallery of their mantles in different types of homes/fireplaces. I ended up deciding on the Hand Hewn Beam – at 8 inches x 8 inches thick. Shipping was faster than what I anticipated and it was packaged up nicely.

after

Such a difference, right?! And NO slanting! I will say – this is VERY rustic. The top of the mantle is uneven in some spots. I was wanting a rustic piece so I don’t mind it but you might want to go with a different style if you are wanting something more uniform.