This month’s DIY project was to makeover a part of our basement. I knew that it was time to finally give this fireplace a makeover. We had been talking about adding a Fireplace Mantle to this plain brick face and this month’s challenge was the perfect excuse for us to get it done.
I am so happy with how this turned out and feel like it really finishes off the basement. I always felt like the room was a bit lacking and felt like the Fireplace could be a great focal point, but the weird shape of the bricks on the ends made it so that a pre-manufactured Fireplace Mantle would not work without us having to make some adjustments to it. So…of course…we designed one based on some inspiration pictures and made one to fit our existing Fireplace.
**One note of caution though…we do NOT use this fireplace for fires. The drafting has never been good on this fireplace in the basement and we have three others in the home (crazy right?). This fireplace mantel is for show only. So if you are going to be using your fireplace to build real fires, be sure to check out the safety building code for fireplaces so you don’t start anything on fire!
I will attempt to share with you how we made ours so that you can see how you could possibly use that to make one for your own individual home.
DIY FIREPLACE MANTEL MATERIAL LIST
FIREPLACE MANTLE SUPPLIES
Here are the supplies you will need to make your new fireplace mantel.
- Wood working clamps
- Gorilla wood glue
- Nail gun
- Caulk
- Caulk gun
- Sand paper
- Interior paint
- Paint brush
- Foam roller
- Paint tray
- Painters tape
HOW TO MAKE A FIREPLACE MANTEL
The two side box pillars were designed to adjust to the changes in the wall and brick depths. For instance, the outside of the boxes was 2 1/4 inch deep, and the interior of the boxes was 3 3/8 inch deep. The front of the boxes used a 8 1/4 inch wide board with the side boards glued on each edge so the total with of the box was approximately 9 5/8 inches.
I used the 2 inch mdf strips to cover the seams you could see on the front where I attached boards together. The boxes were 49 7/8 inches tall from the floor and 37 1/2 inches from the top of the brick seat of the fireplace.
The mantel had a shelf of 7 1/4 inch deep by 78 7/8 inches wide. The width of the lower part of the mantel was 71 5/8. To ensure the same overhang of the shelf over the crown molding, each side of the shelf needed another 3 5/8 inches (71 5/8 inches + 3 5/8 inches + 3 5/8 inches = 78 7/8 inches of the top shelf). See picture below for further illustration.
Clamp and stapled 2 inch mdf strips to cover seams on edges and for decoration (above 2 pictures and one below).
We tested to ensure the mantel properly fit on top of the boxes before finishing the other parts of the mantel.
After all the trim and the crown molding have been nailed on, you will want to caulk around all the cracks and nail holes with some painters caulk and wood filler. Sand down everything to a smooth finish.
Paint the mantle. We painted it in a white paint color in a semi-gloss finish to match our Wainscoting.
JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER
Would you like more Recipes, DIY, Printables and Organization Ideas?
Subscribing to the newsletter will enable us to periodically send you creative content exclusively for Idea Room subscribers.
*View our Privacy Policy here.
What an amazing difference! Beautiful!
Very NICE! White-washed brick would be gorgeous!!
/Users/kennymanlapig/Desktop/whitewash.jpeg
It looks great Amy! I love the details and the white against the red brink.
It turned out so great! I love the white against the bricks Amy!!
xoxox
Thanks Jen!! Miss you! xo
Looks beautiful! I love that you kept the brick natural and didn’t paint it, like many people are doing these days.
Thanks Katie! We did talk about painting it but ultimately decided against it since we did have a nice color of brick to work with. I am so glad we went the direction we did. It definitely fits with the style of our home more this way!
Looks fantastic!!! Wish I had the skills and ideas to make beautiful changes like you’ve done!!! Wow!!
It was really one of our easier projects! The hardest part was figuring out how to go around the bricks along the sides where they jut out. I bet you could do it! ;)
Thanks for sharing. We have a big wood stove surrounded by a lot of brick in our basement, I think this may work to update it a little!
Oooh fun! I hope you are able to update it! We have one like that upstairs that I am still struggling on what to do with as it is in the corner with two brick walls on either side!
Great Job!! And thank you so much for sharing!! We have the same style fireplace in our basement. We’ve tossed around the idea of painting it, but I like this sooo much better!!!
Thanks Shawnna! We too tossed around the idea of painting it. The previous owners got a lot of old paint on the top of the bricks by the ceiling that looks really sloppy, but ultimately we decided for us that we liked the option of doing the mantel. You have to do what works for you!
This looks so awesome. I love how the white brightens it up!
Thank you so much Shambray for the sweet comment and for stopping by!
Love the way this turned out. I have the same fireplace, so your instructions will help me when I do my fireplace. I want to extend the wood above the mantel though. Great job!!
Thanks Maria! Glad it will be able to help! We talked about extending the wood along the top but ultimately decided to keep the brick. Good luck with yours!
Looks great. I hope your fireplace is for looks only because it does not look like you have not met the clearance to combustibles with that mantle. You need 6″ on either side at least and 12″ on the top (and that is if you have a heat shield on the mantle). I see that many people want to do this same project so the issue of fire safety needs to be addressed.
Great point Monica! Yes…we will not be building fires in this fire place. It is in the basement and has never drafted well.
LOOKS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just gorgeous Amy!! What a difference a mantel makes :) Makes me wish we had a fireplace so we could do this to ours!
Amazing transformation! Well done all :)
It looks amazing! I have a portable electric fire place that I thought of painting. I live in an apartment and could use some inspiration on what to do. Does Lowes have ideas for maximizing small spaces?
Love what you did with it! Makes the room come alive.
LOVE this transformation! It looks great and really does pull the whole look together. I like the accessories you added as well!
This looks AMAZING! Awesome job!!
This looks great Amy! It is exactly what I want to do with the fireplace in our new house! Thanks for making it seem doable.
May I ask how you connected it to your fireplace? I love how yours turned out and would love to recreate in our living room! Just am not sure how to secure it to the brick background. Lovely job!
I was wondering the same thing..how did you secure it to the actual fireplace..great job. .looks beautiful..
WOW- that looks great! We added a fireplace mantel years ago, and we have one in need of a facelift now. What great inspiration!
Looks great!! Where did you get the little chair with the sign “No empty chairs?”
Thank you! I picked up the chair from JoAnn’s Clearance aisle a few years ago.
That’s exactly what I want for my fireplace. My fireplace looks the same as your “before” photo and I would love to have it look like the “after” photo. Beautiful! Sure makes a difference.
Fantastic update to your fireplace and love that you kept the brick original! Since don’t use it for fires, candles, either real or battery powered, would look really nice in the evening when you’re enjoying the basement :)
That is over the top amazing!!
theidearoom.net has potential, you can make your site go viral easily using
one tricky method. Just type in google:
Irsrod’s Method To Go Viral
White awesome against the bricks, I recently painted my gold trim a cooper color (super simple) – really updates from old gold look too
Thank you so much!You will have to send pictures of your project.
How did you attach everything to the wall??
After all the trim and the crown molding have been nailed on, you will want to caulk around all the cracks and nail holes with some painters caulk and wood filler. Sand down everything to a smooth finish.
Looks great! I have a similar fireplace that has brick from floor to ceiling. How did you attach the mantle securely to the brick/wall? I live in an apartment so I have some limitations, I doubt I can drill into the brick, unless they let me leave the mantel behind when I move out.
Yes, we drilled into it.
Fantastic job! Great STEP by STEP photos!
Thanks for the inspiration!
Staci- Thank you so much!
Would look even nicer with whitewashed brickwork.
Carol- That would look nice. Thank you.
Your mantle turned out really great! I am working on my mantle and using your ideas as a model. I have a couple of questions if you don’t mind. The material list shows two 1×11 1/2 ‘s, one 8 ft and one 6 ft . You mention the mantle top is only 7 1/4 in wide so I’m a little confused where the larger pieces were used. Maybe it’s there in the description and I just missed it. Also did you attach the vertical pieces separately and then the horizontal piece? How many places did you anchor it to the brick? Thanks for your help.
Thank you! Those larger pieces are for the vertical pieces under the mantel. Also, yes I did attach the vertical and horizontal pieces separately. Hope this answers your questions.