Brief History of The Mantel Shoppe

Although The Mantel Shoppe didn't officially have a name until 1990, it was created by Ronald Leopard in 1988 in Springville, Alabama. The first few fireplace mantels were built in a spare room in his home for friends. It then grew into his garage, where it remained for a couple of years.  Due to popular demand, The Mantel Shoppe was forced to expand into a full wood shop rather quickly. We were crowded in that shop but it didn't keep us from turning out an average of 400 fireplace mantels per month.  When we reached 600 fireplace mantels per month it was time to move once again.  So we found a place we could expand in as we grew.  Our current shop is four times as big as the previous shop and about 40 times as big as the original room where Ronald built his very first fireplace mantel. We tell you this not to boast, but to explain that we have grown steadily from the very beginning by giving our customers products and services they can depend on time-and-time again. In return, we are very fortunate to have been surrounded by great customers, great homebuilders, and great distributors that have sparked our growth.

Our Products

Fireplace Mantels:

We figure we better make our fireplace mantels count since we named the place after them. We are constantly upgrading our shop to make our fireplace mantels better. We have far superior equipment than what is needed to simply create fireplace mantels but having the best equipment (this includes employees) is the only way to make them perfect. We also pay attention to trends in home building and design. If there is a new home style out there we want to be the first to build a fireplace mantel to match it, and we usually are. We also feel the need to never get complacent, so we add at least four new unique mantel designs each year. This keeps our homebuilders and interior decorators happy because they can count on us to have something new to help them differentiate from other builders and decorators.  We also like to see our mantel lineup grow so every single person in need of a fireplace mantel can find something they like right in our catalog.

Types of Wood for Our Fireplace Mantels

Poplar/Birch Paint Grade


Our paint grade mantels consist of a poplar and birch combination of woods.  The large panels which create the base of a mantel consist of a breast and two legs.  Birch veneer plywood is used for these pieces because of its superior strength, efficiency, and beauty.  For our moldings and appliques we use poplar lumber.  Ninety-five percent of our moldings are created right here in our facility using our Weinig ATS-4 Molder.  Creating the majority of our own molding helps us keep mantel prices down while giving you an outstanding product.  We are not forced to settle for second rate design because we can simply create whatever molding the mantel design calls for. 




Poplar/Birch Stain Grade

Our stain grade poplar/birch mantels consist of the same general make-up as our paint grade mantels.  However, they are created using all light colored wood that will make for a magical stain appearance.  It is a common misperception can not be stained due to it's variety of colors.  However, when it is carefully selected to a light and consistent color, poplar and birch make one of the loveliest stained pieces in your home.  Here is an example to show you exactly how lovely it is when stained.



Red Oak



Walnut



Cherry

Mahogany

Pine

Maple



Alder

Columns:

We manufacture interior and interior columns. We have five basic styles but we are happy to match a picture or drawing. Our interior columns are made of medium density fiberboard. Our exterior columns are made using Extira. Our columns can be used just as decorative, to wrap around existing supports such as 2x4s or 4x4s, or to surround cased openings such as those leading into a great room or a dining room. Basically there are endless applications for our interior columns. If there is a bare spot in a home chances are we can fix the problem with a column. Call us if you have any questions about our columns or applications.