Twilight by HouseWarmer HWFMC72UH Classic 72-Inch Mantel Shelf And Flush Surround

We have this big flat black marble fireplace in the family room, new but sort of ugly, we have been looking for a mantel for many months, wood, sandstone or marble with limited success, as mantels are not widely available in stores and on very few websites, prices can go up to $ thousands. We have a very modern European white kitchen next to the family room, which made it even harder to find a fit at any price. I went with this Twilight model (what an awful name) because it has less lines and it is simple.Solid light weight light color real wood. Worker installed it, had to do some minor modifications, took him over half a day, followed up with painting next day. Pretty straight-forward but not a piece of cake task. Done by one worker among the crew working on our remodeling. Painted white.The top outsides of the columns have no cover, you see 3 wood boards stacking up, they look like something is not finished or forgtten, very obvious, but after it is painted, you don't notice it much or learned to ignore it.It is not as thick as I liked, columns are only 2.25" thick(from the wall) by 3 layers of wood boards, would be better if they are thicker and look more substantial, but it still looks nice and elegant. Knowing what I know now, I would've spend a little more for a Pearl Mantel which has finishes around the sides and look more substantial.It transformed the whole room, more complete, more elegant, more solid, warm and like home. It is a great value for under $300. There are few other mantel designs will do the same for us, not specifically this "Twilight" design, adding a mantel is a great decision. Excellent value and relative good quality.

UPDATE #2Looks good. I would recommend it.================================UPDATED: Found this on NorthernTool site:"The inside dimensions for this unit are 49 inches wide and 42 inches high. The ouside dimensions are 72 1/2 inches long on the top of the unit and 70 inches at the bottom, the depth is 6 3/4 inches."I shouldn't be doing all this search - poor job by Amazon and the manufacturing. Changing my review to 3 stars for now, will update based on how it looks when it arrives.==================================There's no cutout dimensions listed. Only what I assume to be overall height and width. Unless you know the dimensions of the interior opening, this doesn't help at all.I called Amazon and they were unable to help, suggesting I call the Empire. Empire promised to fax me a dimension sheet and never did despite two calls.With such customer service, I will keep looking elsewhere. Good luck if anything doesn't fit. They won't help you. Amazon may take it back but you would be shipping a very large and heavy item on your own dime. This is definitely not the level of customer service I expected from Amazon.

I ordered too large of a fireplace surround and returned it to the manufacturer. I have not yet heard if you have been informed and removed from my Discover card. Please let me know. Thank you.Mary Louise Bonner

This is a beautiful fireplace mantel & surround when painted and a great buy at half the price of other "solid hardwood" mantel-surrounds.I gave this unit 4 stars, however, because it is NOT "solid birch hardwood" as advertised. Despite being reassured by other buyers that I was receiving a solid birch unit, I found particle board and veneered plywood as well as birch in the mantel and surround.

I just built a house and used this for our fireplace. I used the minwax express color in onyx which is a paint like stain which makes me believe this product would work great with any paint or stain. There is a little bit of assembly. It comes in four big pieces. The top shelf, the two side pieces and the top front part (the piece under the shelf). The down side of this product is that it needed extra hardware to securely attach the side pieces to the wall. The hardware that comes with it, only attaches the side pieces at the top, which left them dangling and hanging away from the wall. Along the inside (where the decorative tile or stone is placed), the side pieces do not sit flush against the wall. This is actually perfect for laying a tile or stone inside.I have and would continue to recommend this item.

This arrived with the trim..... hoping it comes in a separate box.

The assembly is pretty straight forward and although it can be done by one person, I'd strongly suggest enlisting the help of an extra pair of hands. Also depending on the height of your fireplace, you can/may need to trim down the legs.If you're planning on painting this mantel, I'd recommend 2 coats of primer(Kilz Latex2) before applying your desired color paint.In the end the mantel looks amazing and for the price you CAN'T go wrong.

Disappointed that this product stated it was Birch wood when in fact most of it was made from popular wood and press board covered with a thin sheet of birch. It is not coating well with the stains we have used several times before on other wood projects.