I use a photo editing program (MS Digital Imaging Suite, which is discontinued :( I capture images from the net with ScreenPrint Platinum and then cut and paste materials into the photo. It's pretty much cut & paste, although I have taken to a lot of the other tools to work with color and blending, etc. Someone recently posted a free photo editing program ... You can either superimpose (paste) or also cut the stone out of your original picture and place the new material behind in the blank space, which might be an easy way for you to go. Usually the net images are too bright, so tone down the color a bit using the saturation and lightness/darkness features in the coloring tools. Feathering the edges with the blur tool is another good tip. I would say it seems you have enough detail with the grill and mantel, so it's hard to imagine putting pebbles in, which does seem off in style as well with the mantel. Not that we need any rules :) I do think they look very pretty together with a simple, plain surround, though. I only tried the soapstone, low contrast, which I find keeps it very simple to let the details of the mantel and grill shine. Everything shouldn't be calling for attention or it will get too busy and confusing to look at. I'm sure you know what I mean :) Such beautiful pieces!

elenkao, I just opened the door on mine (why it opens, I don't know, but it does ;) Here's a detailed description of it when the flame is on: The 'logs' have the orange-red glow lights beneath them to give the illusion of embers. They've done a good job with that part, it looks hot to the touch ;) Behind the logs is a 'smoked' mirror. It's dark gray and doesn't reflect till your hand is within inches of it. (It does reflect the logs to some degree, because they are backed right up to it.) The mirror is covered it tiny little dots as well, almost a vinyl like material. (These are not pronounced, they are barely visible.) Some how, some way, there are lights that create the flame, they look to be behind the mirror. So maybe it's not a mirror in the true sense, because it has a translucent quality to it, not like a regular mirror. The lights must be programmed to turn on and off in a pattern that creates the illusion of flickering flames. They go high and low, wide and narrow, flicker and dance. Much like a crackling fire would. It it not flat in appearance but rather has dimension (probably has something to do with the 'smoke and mirrors' ;). I dunno how they did it. All I know is we needed some extra heat in that room, had looked into vented fireplaces but opted out of that for several reasons (one is the room layout, L shaped, hard enough to arrange furniture in a cozy seating pattern, a fireplace would have been orphaned in the corner or on other end of the L, away from seating.) The stove fit every need: small enough to fit in to the seating area in a corner, looked realistic, and most of all cranks out the heat ;) This is a lower level room, and like dixiedo's, most of our heat is at the ceiling because the registers and cold air returns are all up there. (Stupid layout.) Anyway, we enjoy it, it gives a nice ambiance to the room. In the evening watching TV if we don't need the heat I'll often turn the flame feature on just for that reason. Even DH will do that and he's not the ambiance type ;) I do recall some of the ones at Lowes and HD were plugged in so we could see the flame. At the page below there is a paragraph about all the patents Dimplex has (lots) on their electric flame, and I also noticed there are several other brands sold under the Dimplex name. Here is a link that might be useful: About Dimplex

Do you mean the mantel (face of the fireplace, around the opening), or do you mean the mantelpiece (wooden shelf on top)? I'm assuming you mean the latter. I could be wrong, others may know of something, but I don't think you'll find anything as nice as what you can make. I'd build a recessed pocket with a finished wood cover, and a cutout with a grommet for the power cord(s). Then I'd flushmount the receptacle in the side of the pocket. To do this you'll probably need some room under the mantelpiece, perhaps inside the brickwork.

I'll take a couple of photo's of electric tomorrow for ya'll. I have two of them as well as two propane and two real. I seem to like two's :) Oh and two wood LOL Ok so I have a couple of fireplaces. I don't like the electric. They look fake. I'd like to remove both of mine but one is sort of built in so I'll have to wait (it's in a guest room) and the other in our family room is an old one that is half way decent, and puts out a bit of heat and we can't replace it with a propane because of the chimney height (if it's over 30' they can't do it unfortunately). The coolest electric I ever saw was in a house built in 1914 that was done with special light bulbs. It was so so so cool...obviously fake but in such a vintage way it was worth having. I wish I could find one of them...way fabulous :) Anyhoo, I'll take a couple of shots for ya'll with the cell phone tomorrow and see how you like a couple of electrics...and then fly down and take mine LOL