In addition to spending lots of quality Girl Scout time this weekend Zach and I worked on my New Project - our Wine Bottle Mantle for the Living Room!
We went to Lowes, Compared Prices of all our Available options and decided to go with 2x4's 10 Feet Long - as our Base Construction Material. We went with just the "Joe Wood" instead of Pretreated because apparently Pretreated Wood has to breath for several months before you can start staining it? And since I am an immediate satisfaction kind of Gal, I wasn't willing to wait...nor did I need the wood to be treated - if it had been going outside I would have probably gone with it though...
I wanted the edge of the Mantle to have a more finished edge, so as we were wandering I came across the Decorative Mouldings...I chose This Twisted looking trim with a Small edge on it.
Luckily Lowes offers Wood Cutting for free so we had them cut our 2x4's to our desired Length's (13inch sides and 6 Foot Lengths), They don't have the capabilities to cut the trim, So Zach actually cut it at home with his Hand Saw!
Once all the pieces were cut I lightly sanded them and coated them in three coats of Minwax PolyShades Stain in Mahogany Gloss. The Polyshades is a new product by Minwax and it is actually the Stain and Polyurethane in One! The only problem with this is that you have to let the stain dry completely between each layer, and then lightly sand the finish off with 0000 Grade Steel Wool before applying your next coat.
We Bought "Decking" Corner Brackets to actually construct the Mantle. This may have been going a bit overboard since they are equip to hold hundreds of pounds...but I'd rather be safe than sorry...and it's not like they show...They are up against the wall! They do a great job of holding together the back of the Mantle, but as another precaution we sunk big (2inch) screws from the top down and the bottom up in each corner to make sure the front didn't "sag". I attached the Moulding with a coat of simple wood glue and weighted it with books for several hours to make sure that it was stuck good.
The greatest Challenge that we encountered was trying to find the studs to actually mount the shelf on. Clearly they had to go into Studs...but finding them, was ridiculous, and YES we did have a Stud Finder. Apparently though if you have plaster walls? a Stud Finder doesn't work? Anyways, we decided to do it the old fashioned way - hammer in a nail and see if it hits wood...if it does, you've got the stud...if not stick a coat hanger in and see if you can feel for the stud. Clearly this was a long and aggravating process, but eventually we did find the studs...and made about a dozen holes in the wall in the process...Guess we wont be getting our deposit back...
Once we Found the Studs we mounted two Corner Braces to the wall for the Mantle to set on! The project was hard work, but well worth the weight! Stay Tuned for pictures of the finished product!
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