How We DIYed our Fireplace Mantel

This past fall, I shared the reveal for our One Room Challenge living room makeover, and was getting so many questions about the fireplace mantel and how we got the look. I loved this style for a while, and loved the idea of it made from concrete. I drew out the design for Steve in the morning and he left to go get all the supplies to make a mould. This would have been his first time ever making something out of concrete, and after talking it over with my grandfather (who’s done it a bunch of times) he decided it would be a really tough piece to try on his first attempt. With the tight timeline, he called me up and asked me if it would be ok to make it out of wood instead. I was a little nervous about the concrete, so when he said he would be able to make it out of wood, I was all for it! He cut all the pieces in the afternoon and assembled it in the evening. When your doing a ORC, everything gets done pretty quickly! Steve’s background is in metal fabrication. (He went to college for it, and even had his own welding shop before he joined me in design!) He is mostly self taught in carpentry, but is really good at just going for things and figuring it out, which works out really well when I’m looking for something specific and custom like this!

Since so many of you were asking where you could purchase the mantel, we decided to put together a bit of a tutorial. We found someone who was excited to get the same surround, and filmed the process. I also put together this little sketch which shows what overall measurements we used.

We hope you find this helpful in getting a similar look! If you have any questions, we would be happy to answer them!

-Steve and Alyssa