DIY Wood Mantel (simple to make!)

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Learn how to make your very own DIY wood mantel!! It’s easier than you think!!

Hello, my wonderful friends!

I’m coming to you midday on a Friday, what?! It’s been a crazy week so I didn’t get this post finished until just now so I thought why wait, I’ll just send it on out today.

I’m sharing our brand new DIY wood mantel with you today. It’s been a long time coming as I’ve wanted to change out the mantel for years. AND get around to painting the brick again.
We finally tackled both…right during the month of Christmas because why not?! haha

I’m SO thrilled because it’s just one of those things that you don’t love but live with. You know, thinking you’ll get to it eventually but never do.
Well, we finally did and I’m so thrilled!

It was super simple to make and I’m not sure why we waited so long. Hopefully, this will help you if you ever thought of making your own too.

DIY Wood Mantel

Learn how to make your very own DIY wood mantel!! It's easier than you think!! artsychicksrule.com

Here’s a refresher of what it looked like when we moved in…

Before of living room with red brick wall and dark paneled walls

This was literally the week we moved in. (hence all the disarray)

Quite the difference huh? I thought it’d be fun to go all the way back!

Then over the years, I painted the brick and we updated the mantel a bit with new corbels.

TV over white mantel on creamy brick painted fireplace

Among another million things we updated in here.

I had wanted to replace the mantel for some time as it no longer really matched the relaxed, coastal feel of our home.
But as things go, it gets pushed to the end of the list because the list is so large!

I had also wanted to paint the brick white since it was still a creamy, pale yellowish color from when our walls were painted in Blonde by Sherwin Williams.

fireplace with yellow walls in living room

Things have certainly changed over the years around here, huh?

So with new paint and with the brand new DIY wood mantel, here is what it’s looking like now!

Frame TV with artwork over fireplace

So fresh! I love it! So glad to have the brick repainted. It looks so clean and bright.
Now, if I had it to do over, I would probably do some sort of wash on the brick instead.
But I didn’t do that all those years ago when I first painted it so here we are.

MATERIALS LIST FOR DIY WOOD MANTEL

 

First, we took down our old TV and old mantel.

Kind of bummer we installed this electrical for our TV and now had to remove it. (the Frame TV doesn’t plug in the same way)

Oh well! I love the way the Frame TV is flat against the brick and only has one tiny cord leading from it to its control box which we keep in the cabinet beside the fireplace.

I painted the brick in Pure White (by Benjamin Moore, color matched by Sherwin Williams in eggshell finish)

New TV goes up…

And next, we start the mantel. (you can see the thin cord from the TV attached to the control box in this photo)

We started out with 2 – 1 x 8 pine boards. (you can use any wood you like and the length bought would depend on how big you are making it)

picture of two boards on ground

We cut 5/4 board down to the size we needed and then cut the two front edges and side pieces in a 45.

two boards with 45 degree cuts

close up of two 45 degree boards cut for corner

This would become the “box” that is the mantel.

wood box for mantel on countertop

Once that was done, we cut the 1×8 for the top and bottom to fit perfectly inside the box.
You can rout this or simply screw/nail it in.

We screwed it in using the screws noted above in the “materials” box.

wood box showing top and bottom

We attached wood bracing on the inside to screw into the sides, top, and bottom.

wood box showing inside wood bracing

And this piece was done so there would be no screw holes on the front…

long view of side and front inside of mantel

My husband attached this board to the brick to screw the mantel to.

wood attached to brick fireplace to attach mantel to

attaching new wood mantel to fireplace

And done!! Now to stain.

unfinished wood mantel on fireplace

I was undecided on the stain color. So I did two samples to try to figure it out.

samples of stain on top of unfinished wood mantel

Did I want to be matchy-matchy with our floors and do the color on the right, Cappucino?
Or did I want to go along with our coastal vibe and do the Driftwood color.

I got a little help with this over on Facebook too, thanks for chiming in!

Driftwood won!! But I also figured that if I didn’t love the Driftwood after a while, it would be easier to go over with the darker color.

I filled all the holes with the stainable wood filler…

wood mantel with stainable wood filler

Then sanded and taped it up to apply the Driftwood stain.

wood mantel taped for staining

One coat was all it needed. And since it is a “stain and finishing oil” all in one, I didn’t need to do anything else. Love that!

wood mantel finished with stain

I like that it is not matchy-matchy with the floor and it stands on its own.
But you never know, I may change it down the road…if we don’t move first! lol
Yes, we are still looking to move but have found nothing that we love enough to move for yet.

In the meantime, we are giving the downstairs half bath a little refresher. If you follow along on Instagram you may have seen some of that.
Keep an eye out there for a few more snippets before I share on the blog…hopefully next week.
We are also working on our upstairs bath too. A little slow on that one but it’s finally coming along.
Here is the post about the plans for that one >>> Hall Bathroom Mood Board & Plans

I’m really happy to have this all done finally.

wood mantel with artwork on TV

And I’m loving our new rug in here too! It brought in some fun color to the room.
You can find it, here.

If you like any of the “artwork” on our new Frame TV, you can find them in my shop, here.

I still need to find or make, a new frame for the TV. I want to do light-colored wood but the only ones I’ve found so far are very expensive.
So we may be DIYing that too!

up close of wood mantel

decorated wood mantel and tv over top

up close of wood stained model

full fireplace shot with Frame TV over new wood mantel

So fun having a TV over the fireplace that looks like art when it’s off. We’ve really enjoyed that!

And so happy with our new DIY wood mantel. Glad we finally got around to it. ;)

PIN it to save it!

Learn how to make your very own DIY wood mantel!! It's easier than you think!! artsychicksrule.com

Think you might give it a go? It was truly a simple project.
I hope this post was or will be helpful to you if you do!

More home DIY tutorials we have shared here:

Have a wonderful weekend!! Come on back to check out our guest bath refresh!

UPDATE!! See the whole bath and all we did here!

xoxo


24 Comments

  1. A little confused, is there no bottom piece (making a 3 sided ā€˜boxā€™)? Love how easy this Looks and it is a fabulous upgrade to your fireplace.

  2. Iā€™m tickled to see you floated the mantle! I recently took down a solid pine beam (heavy) that was supported by ugly corbels which was my mantle. I did a German smear style on my brick. I have been trying to decide whether to float the beam or have a fireplace surround made. You have solved the dilemma by sharing your beautiful new mantle. Love the way yours looks!

  3. Love the vintage moving day original photo…..WOW!!!! that needed the love!!! The vintage computer, which looked so “space age” back in the day, now looks like a relic. Love the new look.
    Your home is beautiful…stay put in these uncertain times. Enjoy all the work you put into it.
    Happy Friday!!! xx

  4. Wow looks stunning, just love your home looks so beach, but yet homely and inviting.

    Please send your hubby over to my house to do lots of wood work as my hubby is an office Johnny.

    Well done to you and your hubby for what you guys do and share with us.

    Have a blessed day
    Cathy

  5. Nice job but I am going to be the nay sayer. I loved ā¤ļø your mantle just the way it was. The color white, the corbels,( those were beautiful) the mantle itself. But you and your hubby make a good team and the projects are always successful.

  6. Oh Nancy that looks awesome! I absolutely adore it.
    You may want to hold off changing the frame on tv – the contrast really works well to complement the black of the inside of your fireplace. And a bit of black always works perfectly.
    I love the whole thing just the way it is. Well done. Really really like this.

  7. I love this Nancy! I am going to be updating my stone fireplace too (likely a whitewash or German Smear) and need a solution to replace the stone mantel! I’ll see if I can build something like this to cover the stone mantel! Thank you for the inspiration!

  8. Hi, Great makeover it’s beautiful! I checked out the art work for the tv and was wondering how it worked? Thank you for your time…..Julie

    1. Thanks, Julie! So, we have a Samsung Frame TV and it does this automatically. I know there are ways to use these on other smart TVs but I’m not sure exactly how.

  9. Absolutely gorgeous. I love everything about this project. I especially love how you decorated it and how fantastic the tv looks hanging over it. Thanks for sharing. Happy 2022

  10. Hi Nancy, this is all so beautiful! We’re starting some major renovations in our beach home and your pics have inspired me! Did you do the tall chair rail/molding on the walls yourselves or have a contractor do it? My husband is very good with woodworking and thinking we can do this ourselves…

    1. I am so happy to hear that, Beth! Yes, we’ve done everything in here ourselves. Here is a link to the board and batten in this room… DIY Board and Batten
      And, absolutely, you can, no doubt! Good luck and have fun. :)

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