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Are you going to keep the bases down at the bottom? If so, I suggest something as simple as they are. You could:
-- Put the face over the edge of the side so that you couldn't see the side at all from a front-on view. Then roundover the edge to soften it. Or,
-- Extend the stile beyond the side and bullnose that edge, or,
-- Put a molding around the corner, though I think this would look more like an applique.
If you want a little more ornamentation, you could turn some stock on a lathe, making it larger and then put it on the corner, which would have the effect of making the edge look somewhat like a column. I had to do that for this antique fireplace mantle restoration that I finished last winter:
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Yes, the base is staying as is and I left the top piece of trim large because I wasn't sure how I wanted to approach the side pieces.
I had considered the column piece on the corners but I don't have access to a lathe so it would be square stock to hide the corner joint. When I originally did this fire place 14 years ago I installed what looked like columns and used fluted pieces of oak and 45'd the long edges to give it a finished look.
I thought a lot about it today and may just extend the front past the sides and round over the edges as you suggested.
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I would miter the stiles at the corners and use the panels of your choice on the front and sides.
Doug
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Location: W. of Rainier, E. of Orcas
The one thing my wife misses most is an electrical plug outlet for Christmas lights. Her family's mantle had one.
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I'm making some progress on the fire place surround. I ended up making tongue and grooves to join everything together. I'm at the point of making the raised panel inserts and I set up the raised panel router bit and did some test cuts on some Pine that's the same thickness as the Oak I'll be using.
This is a dry fit to make sure everything lines up and is square.
[attachment=13375]
[attachment=13376]
I do have another question regarding grain orientation. On my original fireplace surround I used Oak plywood and ran the grain horizontal and someone told me I did it wrong....he said the grain should have been running vertically.
The question I have is I have 4 vertical panels (lower portion) and 4 horizontal panels (upper portion). Is it OK to run the grain vertically on the lower panels and run the grain horizontal on the uppers or is it just a matter of opinion?
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This is a dry fit to make sure everything lines up and fits together on my fire place surround. To some this is a simple build but for me it's an accomplishment getting to this point with messing anything up.
Lots of trim pieces to make and install, final sanding and pre-finishing to do before it's assembled and installed for the last time.
[attachment=13515]
[attachment=13516]