Fake Fireplace Mantle

 

Ok, so what if I’ve always wanted a mantle to decorate and knew it was virtually impossible that we would at this time actually install a fireplace… I thought what’s wrong with having a mantle anyhow? Who needs the fireplace? I would love to have one someday though, but for now I’ll settle with just the mantle. Here are the easy steps I took to making a rustic, rather simple one…

First I lay down pieces of wood on the floor to kinda visualize how I wanted it to look. I had measured the wall in the living room where I wanted it to go so I knew how wide I wanted it to be. I went online to see what the standard height of one is. I didn’t make it high like some since we don’t have high ceilings in our house.

It’s hard to tell in this picture but I kept laying down boards and cutting them to fit how I thought it looked best.

After I had all the boards cut, I swept them off & sanded them. They were very dirty since they came from a barn. Was also a little worried about the smell but since they are now painted I don’t notice any animal odors. :/

Next I laid them all down again exactly how I wanted them and used an air nailer to pin the boards together. I also always glue everything with a good wood glue.

It was pretty heavy when all the boards were fastened. I didn’t attach the big mantle shelf until later.

The next step was painting it. I carried it in on the deck to paint.

After applying putty to all the holes, I gave it a couple coats of white satin paint. Then it was ready to install!

I did distress the edges and ended up making doors to fit into the opening. I thought it was just too much of a give away that there’s not a fireplace there without the doors.

And finally, the fun part of decorating it!…