DIY FLOATING MANTEL OR SHELF // HOW TO MAKE RUSTIC WOOD MANTEL

Hi everyone! Welcome! My name is Emily. Today's DIY is going to be a floating mantel. I'm really excited for this project because we just finished whitewashing the brick in the last video and so I wanted to make a much larger mantel than the previous one I made because it was just way too small. So this one I made go all the way across the brick but also I made it quite deep that way I'd be able to decorate it. You guys know I'm enjoying decorating the house and one of the ways I wanted to decorate it was by ordering a huge photo of my boys from Canvas Discount. They are actually sponsoring today's video so thank you to them. You guys have never heard of them. They have over 30 different sizes for you to choose from, multiple trim options and thicknesses but they also are printed in the U.S. which is really cool and they are water based and solvent free so there are no allergies with them and they come stretched and ready to hang to your house. They're actually running a promo on the size I ordered which is the 30 by 40 inch for $48. That is a killer deal. Normally it's $60 which is still a good deal but they're going to give it to you guys for $48. So if you would like to get your 30 by 40 inch canvas or something larger or smaller they have you covered. I'll leave all their information down in the description box below if you are interested in that and without further ado let's go ahead and get started with the mantel tutorial. The supplies you are going to want will vary in length. I will be using a 2 by 4 by 8, a 1 by 6 by 8 feet long and I have 3 of those and then I have these 2 end caps that came off of the ends of these and those are 1 by 6 by 4 and 2 sixteenths. I'm using sunglasses. Some knee pads are optional. I'm using an electric nail gun and then 1 inch nails and then measuring tape and a level. You can use a regular hammer or do pocket holes for this if you wanted to but I like my nail gun. So I start by just placing the 2 little end pieces in the middle. We will come back to those later so don't worry about those. That is just to help keep our boards up and make sure all the ends are flush on all sides here and then once you have that just go ahead and start adding your nails into the boards. Just work your way down. I like this nail gun and it's a DeWalt. I got it for Mother's Day and I think it is delightful but you can like I said use pocket holes if you wanted to with a Kreg or you could just use regular nails for this and so I just worked my way down and then once you have that go ahead and flip it over, move your end cap all the way to the end and then go ahead and just add your staples making sure the ends are flush and then go ahead and repeat that on the opposite side. You could use wood glue for this but I didn't find it was necessary. Then I flipped it over and added some more nails to the top side and this is how it will come out. I really like it. Next you're going to measure the inside length of your mantle and then take that measurement and measure your 2x4. Once you have that, make cuts where necessary and then I just went ahead and took those scraps which are about 3 inches a piece and placed them about a foot, foot and a half apart because those are going to be the shelf bracket on the mount and then I just took my 3 inch screws and I will screw those to the scraps from the top side down securing them together. Like I said, this is what's going to be mounting to the wall and then our shelf will be sitting on this. So once you have that, I went ahead and marked where my holes will be for my mantle and then I just went ahead and pre-drilled those into the wood. That way they were sticking out just a little bit to kind of help me hold it on to the mantle itself. So I just started with one. This is better if it's a two-man job but if you're alone, it's okay. You can do it. So just use your level. Once you find the level, then go ahead and screw that into the wall and you are good to go. It's not going to go anywhere. It's there. Then go ahead and take your mantle and do a dry fit. Make sure everything is good. It should be. And once you have that, then you can go ahead and paint it or stain it. I am going to be using dark walnut and driftwood. I used a rag here and just applied the driftwood first. I like the mixture of the two together. You could premix them half and half if you wanted to but I'm lazy and I like to do it separate. Then I went ahead and took the dark walnut and applied that on top. And once you have that in, just rub it with the grain of the wood. That's best. And then rub off any extra that you might have. And then seal it with a sealer of your choice. And this was the before teeny-weeny mantle. Same concept. It's a floating one. Just way too tiny. And this is the after. Look at how big of a difference this is. It fits the space very, very well. I love how rustic and old it looks, especially with all the knots in the wood. I used a one-inch screw to attach it to the two-by-four. That way it would not move or budge on each end of the mantle. I love the way it came out. You can use this tutorial for floating shelves on your wall or, as my case, a floating mantle. I hope you guys found this helpful. And if you did, be sure to give it a thumbs up and don't forget to subscribe if you haven't done so already. And don't forget to check out Canvas Discount. All their information is in the description box below. I hope you have a beautiful day. Thank you for watching.