New Hearth

Hi all. My wife and I have been lurking here for the past few months and found much of the information very helpful. We are in Western Washington and noticed a few members posting from this area as well. We purchased our first stove last month and have been working on a hearth to place it on. Much of the design was inspired by photos and instructions found on this site. The rest of the inspiration was derived from my conscience - I couldn't bring myself to pay $455 for a prefabricated that didn't fit just right and with tile colors we didn't like.

We narrowed our choices down to two - the Harman XXV or free-standing Accentra. We finally decided on the XXV. There weren't any issues with having to wait for the stove. In fact, the dealer wanted to install two weeks after the purchase, but we held off for a month so we could prepare the hearth. We originally had a propane fireplace in this spot, so it had to removed. I have never tiled anything before so I learned quite a bit - I'm ready to tackle the bathrooms next!

Installation day is Friday. I'll post pic.'s then (When I figure out how). Many thanks to all.

Thank you so much for all of the compliments - you guys are quick too! We wanted a traditional style mantle but didn't want to pay for a mantle kit. Those things are around $300 for a six foot section and we needed two. We faked it with crown moulding and hemlock boards. You have to look closely to tell its not solid.