My house has an abundance of … I don’t know what exactly to call them. Niches? Coves? Nooks? Big holey things in the wall? Behold:
Blerg. There is also another one directly across from this one, and one at the top of the stairs, but off to the side and so high up no one can reach it or hardly see it. Makes no sense to me. Someday I’m sure this will look great with custom built-ins or somesuch, but that day is not today.
However, there was plenty of inspiration to be had in The Home Depot’s Fall Style Guide, as usual. These particular photos were about new trends in paint colors, but I was swept away by all the custom mouldings and panelings and casings and baseboards. Dreamyville.
So, with Christmas approaching, I commissioned my handy brother Nathan to help me add a little interest to my cove of darkness, in the form of a faux mantle. (I must also give him credit for not giving me a hard time about wanting to stick a fake mantle in a house with no fireplace, purely for decorative purposes.)
We found a plan from Ana White, who coincidentally, was also featured in The Home Depot’s Fall Style Guide!
I really failed in the picture-taking department, but here you get a general idea of what we started with.
That’s right. Plain old lumber. Ana’s plan is super simple, so most of the time was spent at The Home Depot getting the cuts made, and actual construction of the mantle took I swear, like half an hour. Easy peasy.
Here is Nate doing all the dirty work. (We really didn’t make THAT big of a mess. He always looks like that. He’s handy.)
And here it is all ready to be sanded, caulked, and painted. Caulking is absolutely necessary to hide all the little gaps and spaces in the wood, especially when you are planning to paint. “Caulk and paint and make it what it ain’t!” Learned that one from my dad.
So, when I brought
it inside, I discovered absolutely hated the color I chose. (Rustoleoum’s Heirloom White, which normally I love, but in this case it just looked waaaaaay too creamy.) So I tried a brighter white, and here is it! Wait … let’s look at the before again:
Good news! There’s a new Style Guide out now! Download it and enter your best Holiday Décor for the chance to win $1,000 gift card to The Home Depot.
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32 Comments
Leslie
December 15, 2012 at 7:22 PMHoly Toledo! It’s great to see an after from you and what an after it is. Amazing what a difference it makes to the room, huh? Very cool! Good on you…
Anonymous
December 15, 2012 at 9:41 PMso pretty!
Anonymous
December 15, 2012 at 9:43 PMVery nice. But did you consider using a mirror INSIDE
the “fireplace” instead of above? That would really make it come alive!
Ashley C.
December 15, 2012 at 6:23 PMWow – I LOVE it and can’t believe that you guys whipped that up yourselves!
Holly
December 15, 2012 at 6:36 PMShut the front door!!! Love it. I’m always inspired by Ana White but too scared to try anything. Great job and such a great place for it! Now, what about the other big holey things? Whatcha gonna do with those?
Nita {ModVintageLife}
December 15, 2012 at 6:39 PMvery very pretty! I wish I had a man around to build me things!
Nancy
December 15, 2012 at 7:01 PMYour own “after” — what a concept! And what a beautiful little cove!! Great job. Now everybody is going to have niche envy.
FabTwigs
December 15, 2012 at 7:19 PMIt looks fantastic! Wow! Great job!
Kelly and Penny
December 15, 2012 at 7:30 PMLindsey that is amazing!!!! Love it
Anne
December 15, 2012 at 8:49 PMWhat a cute idea! You’ve totally made that little nook functional and a focal piece. Beautiful work!
stephbo93
December 16, 2012 at 6:06 AMGreat job!!!!!
Tammigirl
December 16, 2012 at 1:57 AMYou did a beautiful thing! We have only one niche, and luckily the piano fits in it perfectly.
Lindsay
December 16, 2012 at 5:42 AMLove it! Love the pencil mould inset and the plinth block bottom! And the caulk quote is brilliant! Some people really take it to heart! Ah, we’ll just caulk it! Haha! Love the brilliant white!
Being Home
December 16, 2012 at 6:29 AMYay! You did it! It looks gorgeous!
I remember you telling me in our email exchange a couple of months back (I had sent you a before and after of our mantel and bathroom) that you wanted to build a mantel, too! Fantastic work! Have fun decorating it year round! 🙂
Julie
Carol-Anne
December 16, 2012 at 1:29 PMWhat a great idea! And you’ve styled it beautifully!
Candi
December 16, 2012 at 2:59 PMHmmm, I really like it but I want to see some candles in front of there or something lol.
Angie@BlueberryLane
December 16, 2012 at 4:00 PMLooks fantastic!!
eddielicious
December 16, 2012 at 4:16 PMI don’t get this look, given that this looks like a dining room, wouldn’t a built in bookcase/hutch/sideboard be a better use of this niche? It would add storage and display/serving areas. Your husband appears to be very handy, so he could built it. Either you are deleting the comments of people who don’t like it or you have a very retrained group of followers.
Lindsey @ Better After
December 16, 2012 at 11:51 PMThanks everyone for all the sweet comments! It’s fun to finally have a place to hang stockings in this Arizona home.
And Eddielicious, if you had actually read the post, you would know that I agree with you all the way. I would love built-ins, but it’s not happening in the budget right now. This was just a simple holiday craft that I made with my brother, not husband, as the post clearly states. He does not live with or near me, and helped me out as a favor because my husband is NOT so handy, and he is nice. You should try it sometime.
René
December 16, 2012 at 5:10 PMGreat job! I’d love a mantle in any room of my house, including the dining room! Somewhere I saw where they painted the wall inside their mantel with chalkboard paint, then drew logs and a fire…thought it was a cute idea…
LolaLalaBean
December 16, 2012 at 5:56 PMAwww…that’s so pretty. What a great job!!
Britt
December 16, 2012 at 10:06 PMIs Nate single? 😉
very darling!
Carol Hake
December 17, 2012 at 2:59 AMCan’t believe it … I mean I really can’t believe it … we are on the EXACT SAME page. I love my house but alas no fireplace either. Where to hang the stockings has been a problem for the 15 years we’ve lived owned the house. On the bookshelf? Blah. On a make-shift shelf hung on the wall for this one purpse? Ho-hum. So this year I decided I’m going to build my own fireplace, faux of course. I didn’t get it done in time for Christmas but since I’m off work the whole week afterwards, why not right? LOVE the way yours came out! Don’t you love Ana White? She’s awesome with the plans and inspiration. I’ll send you a photo! Happy Holidays!
Carol, Lakeside, CA
jackie jade
December 17, 2012 at 3:05 AMthis turned out so awesome! it looks like it totally belonged there from the beginning.
Laurel
December 17, 2012 at 3:09 AMI LOVE that mantle! Wow, you did a great job – and who needs a real fireplace anyway? This is perfect for stockings and mantle decor!
Laurel @ SoPo Cottage
Kris @ Driven by Décor
December 17, 2012 at 3:35 AMYour mantle is awesome! I have a “mantel-less” house and do miss having that space to decorate for the holidays! It makes a huge difference to your space!!
Anonymous
December 17, 2012 at 10:18 PMloce it!!! As for uneven sconces…I think it is the angle shot of the camera.
Anonymous
December 17, 2012 at 10:56 PMJust ignore the haters!
DeeDee
December 17, 2012 at 5:12 PMWOW! That’s awesome! What a lovely addition to the room! 🙂
Marji
December 17, 2012 at 8:09 PMdid you make the candle sconces uneven on purpose?
KPackard
December 19, 2012 at 1:55 PMWow, that was amazing! You are a lot better at home decor than you admit to–it’s just lovely!
Annie M.
December 20, 2012 at 6:30 AMThis is so cute! What if you got crazy and threw some logs in, a la this guy: http://pinterest.com/pin/87327680244104948/
I love your blog and read it religiously- Keep up the good work!