Written By:  Michelle @ Making our Dream

While we used this DIY technique to make a large, custom mantle, you could do the same with smaller crown moulding pieces for shelves. (That would work especially well if you have leftover moulding from another project!)

I randomly found this ginormous piece of crown moulding at a vintage market and snapped it up with the thought of turning it into a custom mantle to put above our TV – an embarrassingly empty spot in our house.

Shameful.

This project does require some more advanced skills when it comes to using a saw – which is why I enlisted my husband to help. And by enlisted, I mean he didn’t really have a choice. Thankfully, he caught my vision for this one – otherwise we’d still have that ginormous piece of crown moulding taking up space in our garage!

First, we cut the moulding – using a miter saw – to our preferred length – 7 feet. Our moulding is made of foam, but is really strong and we could treat it like wood. 

Next (this is the hard part), Jason used a jig saw to cut pieces of wood for the sides that matched the pattern on the front of the moulding.

We then patched those pieces together with some wood glue, nails and spackle.

Once that was all together, we painted the pieces that include a pine board for the actual shelf part.

 

When they were dry, Jason affixed the pine shelf to the moulding.

We put it in place using three L brackets and then I got to work putting decorative pieces on top.

It really fills in that formerly-awkward empty space quite nicely!

What do you think?