I LOVE MANTLES!!! I don’t know what it is, but there’s just something about them. It’s hands down my favorite area in a house to decorate. My husband had built me a beautiful white mantle at our previous home. I was so sad to leave it behind when we moved. But my husband promised me he would build me an even better one. I had no doubt he would deliver, but I didn’t know to what extent. This is how he built the mantle of my dreams.
Growing up we had a wood fireplace encased in brick with a rustic wooden mantle. Looking back, my childhood home had the farmhouse look I dream of now as an adult, but I was too young to appreciate its beauty. My mother did not decorate it for every single season, but I remember how beautiful it was for Christmas.
My obsession for holiday decor stems from there and has grown over the years. I now decorate for every single holiday. I love seasonal home decor! My mantle and kitchen are the two areas where I display the most. It just makes me so happy to walk into a room and see pretty things.
Aside from finishing the kitchen renovations, the only other area I absolutely wanted to be done was the mantle. Nope! I didn’t care if I had to sleep on the floor as long as I had a beautiful mantle to look at in the morning. I was thrilled when my husband asked what was the next project I’d like him to tackle. He had that baby up in just a few days.
The Frame
We lucked out and found this electric fireplace in just the right size that we needed to encase into the fireplace base. It’s pretty neat, it has a speaker built-in. With that my husband was able to start building the mantle of my dreams! He used 2X3 to build the frame. We needed to measure out how tall we wanted it, how much the top mantle part would stick out, how thick it would be, how much room we needed for the corbels, and finally how high we wanted the fireplace to be.
We had 72 inches in length to play with if we wanted the fireplace and mantle to be centered on the wall. The fireplace we found was 50 inches across by 21 inches high. So he built the frame 65 inches in length and 6 inches out, which gave us the perfect frame in the end.
As for the height, my husband insisted on putting a TV on top. Insert eye roll here, but you gotta bend sometimes. So that was another height we needed to figure out. At the end of the day, the top of the mantle needed to be 4 ft. high in order for us not to be staring at the ceiling to watch TV. From there, he was able to build the initial frame.
The last measurement to calculate was where to insert the fireplace. I need things in my life to be symmetrical lol, so I asked him to center it as much as possible. He added a piece of wood at the base where the fireplace would go and measured out where the supports would need to go once incased. Then, added more all-around to be able to screw it in. He then removed the fireplace to add those supports. Then popped it back in the secure it.
The Covering.
We went back and forth during the design process as to what we should cover the fireplace with. My husband wanted to do wooden planks with a white mantle. I wanted something brighter of course. Second, we weren’t sure if we should continue up to the ceiling or stop at the mantle. At the end of the day, we settled on white shiplap. And I loooove it! It was so easy to install, just slide the pieces into each other. Of course, cutting around the fireplace was tricky (look at me talking as if I did any of this lol) He wanted the edges to have more of a finished look, so with 1/4 inch MDF cut strips and glued them together to make corners. My husband also continues the baseboards all around the base to make it look more built-in. We then painted the whole thing white.
The Mantle.
We shopped around for a ready-made mantle. But for a 4-inch mantle, we were looking at over 1000$. Which was crazy! So instead, the handyman my hubby is, build one 4 inches high by 12 inches deep. He built up the top a little with 2X3s, with Oak veneered press wood built on the top of the mantle. And in the same manner, he’d made the finishing edges on the base, and created the front. From there, we stained it a light brown and varnished it.
I had bought these corbels at Winners years ago and was holding on to them for a special project. This was it!! The colors couldn’t have tied in more beautifully with the mantle. The stain of the wood was almost identical. I was in awe of the finished project! Yes indeed, my husband had delivered as promised, and built me the mantle of my dreams!
It took me a while to spruce it up since we were still trying to unpack. We added a carpet, cream accent chairs on either side and lots of blankets. I also added pictures of my 4 babies on either side. There’s nothing I adore more than a cozy home. I’m still not 100 percent set on the summer mantle decor. My hubby has created a beautiful space for me that I can’t wait to wake up to. Having my coffee here in total disbelief every morning that he made this for me.
There you have it, the mantle of my dreams. I hope this post inspired you to explore the possibilities of what could be in your home. Thank you for stopping by today.
Elisa
