I am an extreme beginner, this is my very first woodworking project ever. The hardest part was modifying the plans to accommodate the electric fireplace insert that I bought and our space. I wanted a fireplace surround with mantle but I wanted it significantly shorter than most traditional mantles. I used 1x8's for blocking to give the fireplace it's depth. I originally was painting it white with leftover paint we had from our baseboards, but I wanted to make sure it was durable so I went to go paint crystal clear polycrylic over top and it started to turn in the project yellow. I had to sand the project down and start painting again, I purchased a durable paint from dulux called melamine which I was told it does not require a topcoat and is extremely resistant ( we will see). Considering I have never used a drill,nail gun or power saws of any sort I'm really happy with how it turned out.
