DIY Mantel Decorated for Christmas

Hi friends, It’s the most wonderful time of the year again and I’m sharing this DIY mantel I made and decorated for Christmas.

So settle in, grab a refreshment and join my friends and I from the Seasonal Simplicity Christmas Series hosted by Krista from The Happy Housie.

If you’ve followed me for a while you’ll know that I had every intention of adding a mantel as soon as we moved into our new home. I was looking for old barn beams but realized they would be too heavy to install without a lot of tweaking from yours truly…I knew I’d have to  make my own lighter version. Well it’s taken me 10 months to do but I made one just in time to decorate for Christmas!

I love It! It’s added so much character to the space and I wish I had done it sooner.

Here’s a picture from my summer tour. It looks so empty with just the TV and fireplace and really needed another element to make it look finished.

Below I’m sharing a bit of a tutorial on how I made the mantel. It’s not a complete tutorial because my camera fell and my lens broke! But you’ll get the gist of the how to. It’s pretty simple if you know how to use a saw and a nail gun.

I started with 3 pieces of non-knotty pine in 1″x 8″x 5′. I had the home depot cut them for me to save time. Make sure you pick straight and non-warped pieces. You’ll need a little extra to apply to each end so one of my boards was a 1″x8″x8′. I also used a 2″x4″x8′ to use as brackets to sit my mantel on.

You simply apply glue on both sides of two boards lengthways.

Place your third board on top

Nail it.

Measure your opening and cut a piece wood to fit in each end.

Glue and nail that piece in. (I used the ends to try out different colours of stains). You basically have a hollow box. The box will sit on brackets I made out of a 2″x4″ which are screwed into the studs. I simply sat the box/mantel on top of the brackets and nailed them in!

You don’t need to do this step but I wanted my mantel to look like one solid piece of wood so I glued on some veneer at each end. I let the glue/veneer dry overnight and then sanded down all the edges. I mixed together 2 different stains to achieve this custom colour you see below. It was actually a pretty easy project!

Even though there’s not a lot of space to use due to having the TV above, I was able to add some garland along with brass candlesticks. My motto lately is “Simple”.

I used two different faux garlands here and just draped them over 3 little nails. I added a battery operated fairy light garland and then added some extra fresh eucalyptus picks. Once they dry out I have some faux ones that I’ll add to it. I love the light and airy look it gives!

Since there are 10 of us this year, I decided to put up only one stocking for my Grandson. I didn’t want to fill the space full of stockings!

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Thanks for popping in! There’s a lot more mantel inspiration from my friends below. Just click on the links.

Blessings,

Kim

 

Welcome to the fourth week of the Seasonal Simplicity Christmas Series! Today a group of my blogging friends and I are sharing our Holiday Mantels and a few vignette decorating ideas, to help inspire you for the upcoming holidays. Click on the links below each image to be taken directly to the different posts.

The Happy Housie // Cherished Bliss // The Handmade Home
Modern Glam // Craftberry Bush

House by Hoff // Rambling Renovators // Rooms FOR Rent
Jenna Kate at Home // Just a Girl and Her Blog

The Turquoise Home // Sincerely, Marie Designs // Grace In My Space
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia // Zevy Joy

Lolly Jane // Tatertots and Jello // She Gave it a Go
Jamie Costiglio //Southern State of Mind

Place of My Taste // Summer Adams Designs // Life is a Party
We Are The Joneses // Kim Power Style

The DIY Mommy // Two Twenty One // My 100 Year Old Home
This is Our Bliss // Taryn Whiteaker Designs

Amber Tysl // Styled With Lace // Happy Happy Nester
Clean and Scentsible // My Sweet Savannah // So Much Better With Age