Building a Mantel

by Lynda @ Gates Of Crystal

We bought our house almost 13 years ago. It was definitely a fixer-upper. All of the light fixtures were globes, the baseboards and trim were all oak and even though it had three wonderful fireplaces, none of them had mantels.
Instead they were framed out in more oak and a weird brass strip. My husband's honey-do-list was long but it wasn't long before we built two matching mantels; one in our living room (shown below) and one in our family room.

We started by building a rectangular box, without a back, in the appropriate dimensions and then adding moulding to the bottom and crown moulding to the top. We then added a board that would be the top of the mantel.

Family room fireplace

The main box is just press wood. We used a fancy crown moulding, but of course, you can adjust this to your taste. We also used the pre-made crown moulding corners. There's a small trim at the bottom.

My husband then added a board to the wall, attaching it securely to the studs in the wall. He sat the mantel box on the board and screwed it on.

We added mouldings that ran from the mantel down the wall to the hearth. I found four matching corbels at HobbyLobby and added them under the mantel.

We also added the decorative moulding in the center.

I protected the surrounding area and sprayed the whole thing with a stone spray. If I had it to do all over, I probably would skip that step, but it does add a consistent finish to all the pieces. I then painted both mantels white and antiqued the details of the moulding.

Each mantel cost about $125.

They've added a lot to the style of our house and we always receive compliments when friends visit.