You CAN build your own mantle and it CAN be done on a shoe string! In this simple tutorial I’ll show you how to build your own shabby chic farmhouse fireplace and mantle!

I LOVE big chunky furniture! Along with distressed, aged, vintage, etc. Once my daughter said, “Mom, I know your favorite color, chippy white!”. I love old things turned new. I find inspiration in boutiques, thrift stores, yard sales….. I love it all! It’s a curse! When I tell myself I am not doing any projects for a while my brain can’t handle it! Ha! Luckily my husband and my dad support my junk habits and build me all the things I brain storm. I’m a blessed lady!

This mantle is one of my favorite projects but tonight is bittersweet. Tonight is the last night I will be in this home, where this piece will stay. We are moving! The move is a good thing, but it’s also sad for me. I bought this house as a single mother when it was just me and my two older children. I never thought I would be able to buy a house as a single mother, but I did! So to be selling the house that I worked so hard for on my own is pulling at my heartstrings. With that said, I’m also excited to be moving to a home that will fit my growing family. Once I got married and had another baby we definitely outgrew our current home! I couldn’t leave without sharing this DIY.

I take pride in my junk finding! ha! Seriously, I struggle paying full price for things. I know if I wait long enough, visit the thrift store on the right day, or see a post for FREE wood on a yard sale site, I know I’ll find what I’m looking for or needing.

Chunky Shabby Chic Headboard

Originally this mantle started out as a DIY headboard that my dad help me build. He built the columns and we used an old door from the local thrift store. Picture below.

I was so excited to see this come together. My dad helped me with it before I was married. I was going to paint it cream and black and decorate it will all kinds of beautiful finds. Sadly, the headboard was never finished because I got a new bed that didn’t fit the headboard anymore. This is as far as we got, built, and primed. Rather than throwing out or selling the headboard I knew I would find another project for the materials.

Chunky Shabby Chic Headboard Turned Mantle

My living room was very plain and needed something. At the time I couldn’t afford new furniture to fill up the room so…. I had the columns from my headboard that were perfect to start a mantle. We just trimmed them down and mounted the shelf from the headboard on. The door from the headboard sat in my shed for 2 years, I eventually sold it (tear). This is how it set for a few years. It was enough for me to decorate, but it had to be finished. Sometimes my projects don’t get finished for a bit. (face palm)

Reclaimed Wood Details

When I was dating my now husband, I shared ideas with him of how I wanted my mantle to look when I got time to finish it. That Christmas he bought me an electric fireplace, similar to this one, and it sat it in the center of my half finished mantle for another year! Gah!

It was an electric fireplace inside of ugly plywood. Eventually we took the fireplace portion out of the cheesy plywood mantle it came in and built the fireplace into my mantle. I went searching for molding to add some detail. I drove to a town 30 minutes away to a cabinet company that does the most AMAZING work. Fortunately for me they had a $90,000 cabinet job go up in flames, literally, the fire did so much damage they had to move their business. But they had a TON of wood that was covered in smoke that they were selling for dirt cheap if I could dig through it and find what I wanted. So, duh! I went digging! I wish I could have bought it all! I still regret not buying more! I brought home my finds and wiped it down. We added it to the mantle and it was PERFECT!

Clay Flowers

I wanted some shabby chic detail so go with the reclaimed wood molding. I used a large flower applique that I purchased from Etsy like the one here. If you haven’t heard of appliques you seriously missing out are missing out! These things are amazing! You use a metal screen to steam them over water so they are bendable and sticky. After they are steamed you can stick them on flowerpots, furniture, etc. They don’t come off either, I accidentally got one stuck to my actual wood stove and it won’t come off now!

All done! I have loved this mantle and I’m so sad to let it go! It’s been so fun to decorate for every season (explains the command hooks in the pics where I hang banners. Our TV was mounted on the wall right above and farmhouse lights were out to the side. I wish I would have taken pictures of all the seasonal decor but I’ll let you use your imagination.

I hope this post give you inspiration. If so I would love to know! Leave a comment below! Don’t forget to follow on Perfectly Practical Details on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

Tags: applique, diy, farmhouse, flower applique, mantle, shabby chic, vintage