How To DIY & Distress A Faux Wood Beam Mantel

Hi Friends!! This faux wood beam is a show stopper in our living room!  I really feel like it demands center stage and I'm not sad about it at all!

How To DIY & Distress A Faux Wood Beam Mantel

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It's large but not too heavy and it has plenty of room for seasonal decor.  I just love it! 💗

My previous mantel was so skinny there was barely enough room on there for a candle...

This is from our 2018 Cozy Christmas Home Tour
2018 A Cozy Christmas Mantel

Well, I fit a candle on there, but it was always super tight and it felt like things were practically falling off of it.

Knowing that the TV was going to be above the new mantel I wanted it super deep.  We used 2 - 1x12s for the top and bottom and 1 - 1x8 for the front. This guy was nice and big!

So onto how to make this beast!  First things first, I distressed the front piece (1x8) of the mantel.  I didn't bother with the top and bottom, no one was going to really see that part.

These are the tools I used to distress. I clawed with the hammer, gouged with the chisel, filed with the file, dragged with the pry bar, poked with the ice pick, and slammed with the chain! Whew!!

Tools to distress wood

Then I took the Dewalt grinding tool and ground off some of the edges.

Distressing Faux Wood Beam Mantel

Distressing Faux Wood Beam Mantel

This is what  it looked like after all of that.  You have to be careful not to overdo it.

Distressed Faux Wood Beam Mantel

Next, we put the mantel together.

Assembling the Faux Wood Beam Mantel

Basically, we glued and nailed the pieces together with our handy dandy Hitachi nail gun. (Since this project, I purchased the Ryobi Cordless nail gun and I LOVE it! Just thought you'd want to know.😊) The long skinny pieces gave support to nail it together along with the center and end pieces.  I wasn't too worried what the end pieces looked like, because I have a trick up my sleeve that really takes this mantel to the next level! 👍  Then I filled all the little nail holes with filler and sanded it all down.

Dry Fitting the Faux Wood Beam Mantel

Boy! This mantel is a beast! Looking pretty good!!

Next up, stain.  I knew I wanted it to be darker.  I was debating between Minwax's Provincial and Special Walnut.  I went with Special Walnut.  It didn't have as much red in the coloring.

Minwax Pre Stain & Stains

But before you stain, treat the wood with Minwax's Pre-Stain.  It really helps the stain go on even, not blotchy.

Here, I am putting on the 2nd coat of stain.  I just love that rich brown color!

Staining Faux Wood Beam Mantel

Now, here's the trick I was telling you about!

I purchased 2  Wood Adhesive Sheets.



Attaching Wood Adhesive Sheet to Faux Wood Beam Mantel

Basically, you remove the backing and place the adhesive side onto the end of the mantel.  Line it up and smooth it on.  Then, using a sanding block, sand the edge where it overlaps and it will "cut" off the excess.  It's super easy to use.

Then you can stain it! It gives the illusion that the mantel is a solid piece of wood.  Is it perfect? No.  But I don't need perfect!  You'd have to get up close and personal to really notice the difference.  It worked out perfect for me!! Yay! 🙌

Wood Adhesive Sheet to end of Faux Wood Beam Mantel

To attach it to the wall, we screwed in some 2x4s along the wall where the mantel will set.  We used scrap and left a gap for the HDMI cable to run through.

Faux Wood Beam Mantel Support

The we held it up there and screwed it in from the top of the mantel.  The screws will never show and it is very secure up there! Look closely, you barely can see them.

Faux Wood Beam Mantel Attached

Here's a close up of the front distressing.

Faux Wood Beam Mantel close up of distressing

I just love the way this came out!!

Faux Wood Beam Mantel

Faux Wood Beam Mantel

And for those interested...  Here's what it looks like behind the TV.  We bought a heavy duty full motion TV bracket and a new power surge.  Did you know that flat screen TVs need a power surge protection of over 1400 joules? Not all power surges have the same protection.

Behind TV Full Motion Wall Mount

We also ran the HDMI cable through the mantel and down one of the fireplace supports into the receiver.  You can barely see the one cord from the front, behind the center channel speaker.

I am sooo happy!!! 😍
How To DIY & Distress A Faux Wood Beam Mantel

Once more to pin for later....
How To DIY & Distress A Faux Wood Beam Mantel
Blessings!

4 comments

  1. You do so many projects I wonder if you'll have time to sit in that room and watch any TV!! : ) Are you finished now with the room?

    Liberty @ B4andAfters.com

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    Replies
    1. Hahaha! Thanks Liberty! We are pushing to get most of the living room done before Thanksgiving... Almost done, but somethings will have to wait til next year. :)

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  2. Love this! It turned out beautiful. I'm going to be making my mantle this weekend, but my pneumatic nail gun is still in storage. Would you mind posting a link to the Hitachi Nail gun you used? The link in your blog post actually takes me to the grinder, not the nail gun. Thanks!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Apryl! Thanks so much!! Omg! I'm so sorry about the link. Just so you know that Hitachi changed their name to Metabo. I replaced the link. This is the closest nail gun I could find.
    This year I purchased a Ryobi cordless nail gun and I love it!! It doesn't require an air compressor!

    ReplyDelete

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