Barn Beam Mantel

It's complete!

It's exactly what I wanted. Actually, it turned out better than I imagined. Thanks to Adam.

Let's go back real quick shall we?
Last time you saw the barn beam mantel it was right after our contractor put it together, and before the drywall mud.  Oh also, I was super pregnant.  About 390-ish days ago...

And now...

I finally framed up Ben's newborn photos too. Extra points for me.

Unfortunately, I didn't even get a nice snap of the finished product before we slapped a TV up there!

Like I mentioned earlier, the mantel looks even nicer than I had imagined it would. The barn beams looked awesome, but you could still see where the wall started and where the beams ended. Well, I thought it looked rustic and as complete as it was going to get. But Adam had other ideas...

Adam and I had been holding onto a few scraps of barn wood trim we salvaged from my mom and dad's remodel. It pays to hoard scraps in the end kids.
In one afternoon he easily trimmed out the beams and created the shelving I wanted.

 He capped off the tops of the beams with a "crown molding"

He also covered this blank space behind the mantel with a removable panel. This is where all of our cords and wires will hide. They'll still be easily accessible.

I'm on the hunt for baskets or bins to put on the floor, and smaller ones to put on the shelves to house toys and games. I can't wait to style these shelves!

You can see all the construction photos of the basement right here. Basement Progress 2015