Thrifted Fireplace Mantel

July 17, 2021

Thrifted Fireplace Mantel

Well, we have officially been in lockdown for 3 weeks and it is set to continue to the end of the month, at least. In fact, tougher restrictions came in today as the number of cases in the community while infectious just isn't coming down. Other States are also beginning to have their own outbreaks.

The kids have been online learning the past week and that has actually been going well, although they do miss the social interaction.

It's tough. For everyone. But I constantly remind myself of all the things I have to be grateful for and that a lot of other people have it far worse than us, and my prayers go out to them. 🙏

We are only able to leave the house for essential reasons such as grocery shopping and medical reasons. And it was on one of these essential grocery trips that I noticed something on the side of the road on the way home.

And you won't believe what I saw. My eyes literally boggled. 👀

This gorgeous white wooden mantel!!! 😍

I had been looking at corbels for our current mantel for a while, but this one had beautiful large corbels and it was just begging me to take it home (I think). 😆

Since I wasn't far from home, I decided to grab hubby and come back with him to help me load in or on the car. I so thought it would be gone by the time I got back. You know that nervous sweat that comes over you when you are worried you will miss out on something awesome? Well, that was me. FOMO attack!

So we raced back and it was still there! That little sucker was mine!

I kitted up in my dark glasses, cap and face mask before getting out. I love a roadside rescue, but I don't want to be seen mid pick up by anyone I know. 😆

Luckily it fit in the car after a bit of wiggling. Said wiggling unfortunately took a chunk out of hubby's thumb. Thanks babe, you are a legend for taking one for the team!

Here it is when we brought it inside. It was in pretty good shape too. I just needed to give it a light wipe over. There was a small amount of paint pealing but nothing that couldn't be fixed up. Structurally, it was great.

You may remember from my last post that I updated our previous mantel recently by removing the thick faux walnut wood ledge and removing the faux brick wallpaper. Now I had to remove the white ledge also.

This left me with a few screw holes, patches of liquid nails, and chips out of the remaining wood (that I couldn't remove without damaging the entire wall). So for now, that piece is staying.

Then we lined the new mantel up against the wall behind the fireplace and noted the legs would need a small amount trimmed out so it would sit flush around the hearth.

I did the measurements and used a hand saw to cut the notches.

I noticed there were two screw holes underneath the mantel ledge were it had previously been attached to a wall. So this is how I decided to attach it too ours.

We measured it up to ensure it was straight.

Then used the drill to drill through the current holes into the wall behind.

Then I made a larger hole in the wall using a larger drill bit and inserted plastic screw plugs to ensure the screws wouldn't pull out of the wall.

Then I used a screw that would be long enough to go through the mantel and insert approximately an inch into the wall.

The area where I removed the old mantel needed a go over with my Dewalt hand sander.

And some patching of the holes with Selley's Rapid Spak Filla to level it all up.

After the filler had dried I gave the areas that had paint pealing a light sand to remove any loose bits, then I painted a few coats on all those areas that needed a touch up with white British Paints H2O enamel paint. It blended perfectly.

It is lower but larger and longer than our original mantel and I love that there is more room for me to decorate.

Speaking of which, here it is all decked out!

Yes, we have our fire place running cause it is winter here and cold!

Isn't she beautiful!! 😍 I still can't believe my luck!

I had thought about trying to remove the current strips of moulding from the wall behind the new mantel, but I knew I risked causing major damage to the wall as they had been attached using Liquid Nails. (And I haven't quite got over the whole bedroom drywall disaster. 😖)