Living Room Fireplace Mantle

We've made good progress on the living room remodel project.  We completed the paint stripping and have now started sanding the fireplace mantle.  We're two days in, and based on our current progress, we expect to have the sanding finishing next weekend.  To tackle this project, we stapled a plastic curtain to the ceiling to conceal the sanding dust.  Wow, what a mess it makes.

The goal is to finish sanding the mantle and then begin the finish carpentry work to install the glass fronts on the mantle built-in bookshelves.  In addition, we just got a quote in from a tile installer, and the installation of tile on our fireplace is within our budget.  Hopefully we can start this project in the Spring.  In January, we're going to start calling drywall installers to get a quote on covering the popcorn ceiling.  My dream/plan is to have a majority of this project wrapped up by late April.

Mantle being stripped of paint and sanded.