DIY Fireplace Mantel Shelf

Today's project is a DIY fireplace mantel to dress up this naked fireplace. And building a DIY mantel shelf is really just a matter of stacking boards and moldings until you get the look that you're going for. So today we're going to be using some pre-planed alder boards. And then I bought some alder casing for the face of the board. What's nice about this, it's very chunky, but then it also has a routed edge that's already in the board. So that takes away a step or two for me. And then I have some alder crown molding for underneath the top of the shelf. And then the crown jewel will be these fun, really chunky corbels that I'm really excited about. To start out, you're going to want to find all the studs in the wall that you're going to attach the mantel shelf to. You want to make sure that it's very secure. And so you'll go along and find where the studs are and that's where you will attach your boards that you're securing the mantel shelf to the wall with. So just put the stud finder flat against the wall and then press the button. And when it turns red, that's where a stud is. I like to use painter's tape to mark each stud location because it comes off easy and doesn't damage your wall.