I’ve been struggling with the look of my mantel ever since we moved in. If you follow me on instagram, you will know I was questioning whether to paint it or not. Well read on if you’re curious…

How to change a mantle in an hour!

(seriously it only took that long!)

Our mantel was previously an orange oak look and I needed that to just go away! However, I was really having a hard time trying to find the right stain color. I think it was competing too much with my wood floors. They are a distressed barn wood look so they have various shades of wood and a little white wash to them. I knew I didn’t want them dark and to lighten them meant a lot of sanding (bleh!)
After, much thought & Pinterest & Instagram surfing, I decided to take a leap and make a change. Enter paint selection! I decided to go with a chalk paint to avoid a lot of prep work and I love working with it for painted wood projects. I decided to go with Annie Sloan in Country White. Mostly because I already had it and I didn’t want a really stark white. The stone has a lot of yellow in it so I thought a pure white would look yucky!

Here is the before picture

First I felt that it need a little something something, so I got corbels to add on each side underneath.

These are the steps I took to distress the mantle

1- I wiped the mantel clean then added a little wax to random areas so the paint would scrape off for that chippy look. You can use vaseline as well.

 
2- I painted 3 layers of the chalk paint on the mantel and corbels.
 

 
3- Once paint is dry (chalk paint dries very quickly, another plus for using it!) you can use a small scraper to chip the paint. Be careful to not be too heavy handed on this step. I just gently did little scrapes in areas that would naturally get chipped or bumped. If you mess up or don’t like it, you can always paint it and re do . I wouldn’t suggest using sandpaper because it makes more of a scratched looked rather than chipped.
 

 
4- Next, I painted and chipped the corbels then we attached them to the mantel.
 

 

5- I finished it off with a little clear wax finish rubbing with a rag in light, small circles.
And that’s it! Easy Peasy project that was inexpensive and makes a big wow statement. Projects like this make me do the happy dance!
What projects have you done recently that were easy and fun? I’d love to hear your stories!