I had the stove installed by a professional ....Everything else was my doing. I got 5 of my strongest friends smile and we walked a piece of 1" bluestone up the stairs leveled it and PL'd it in place, when the oak floor was installed I had them picture frame around it. I used some old flat moulding as furring strips on the walls behind it (for dead air space) and screwed 18 ga Q deck to it. I made a mantel out of a large old beam I had lying around and lag bolted it to some heavy duty L brackets I secured to the wall beforehand...Finished it off with a light sand and dark stain.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

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