DIY French Country Fireplace Surround

The focal point of our family room is our fireplace.

We needed to find a mantle to hold our TV componets (for hubby)

But it also had to be elegant and romantic (for me)

We looked at antiques and pre-made pieces

They were either too pricey or poor quality.

We decided to make our own.

The basic structure of the mantle

Thankfully hubby is very talented with woodworking.

To start we built the basic structure of the mantle from plywood.

To determine the size and proportions we made a cardboard mock up.

We taped the mock up to the wall around the fireplace.

We attached crown molding and decorative moldings to the plywood structure.

Here is the mantle attached to the wall.

I fell in love with these hand carved corbels.

I primed them with BIN which comes in a convenient spray.

The pilasters, corbels, and appliques were built and attached.

Primed, painted, and attached to the wall.

This was quite a bit of work, but it saved us $$$

I also liked that we were able to custom design something to fit our needs and space.

Thanks for stopping by,

Angela