DIY Fireplace Mantel with Storage

Living in a 1,000 square foot home, we’ve quickly learned to maximize every inch of space, and when we got to working on the living room, we figured why not make a DIY fireplace mantel with storage? You can never have enough storage.

To back up a little bit, when we first looked at this home in our house hunt, we loved the vibe – or at least the vision of the vibe – but the living room was easily the worst part.

It gave off strong sketchy neighborhood vibes. It was dark (it has no lighting at all), awkwardly shaped and just seemed like it should have a second-hand couch that kind of smells like cigarettes and cat pee, you know the kind of place.

We painted the whole room white late last year which did make a big difference, and adding some built-in lighting is on the list soon, too, but this fireplace was such a monumental change in this room.

We’ll be breaking out the DIY fireplace over a couple of posts because it was a mammoth build that took us about five weeks between two full-time jobs and a baby, but we’ll start with the mantel.

Having added storage in the mantel, which is otherwise dead space, was such a win for us, and it also doubles as a sneaky way to run the TV cords down into the wall without needing to MacGyver a way to hide them all. We usually store remotes in there plus our frequently used tools like a screwdriver, stud finder, measuring tape etc., but there’s so many ways you could use that added space!

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So, here’s how to make a DIY fireplace mantel with storage:

Tools & Materials

• 1×10 at 12 feet
• 1×6 at 10 feet
• Hinges
• Hole saw (if you’ll be running cords through your mantel like we did)
• Nail gun
• Level
• Drill
• Screws
• Stud finder
• Stain or paint of your choice (we used Golden Oak)
• Polycrylic
• Sander
• 220 grit sandpaper
• Wood filler
• Saw – you could use a jigsaw, circular, miter or table saw for the few cuts, or have your local hardware store make them for you if you don’t have power tools yet.

How we did it:

Make your cuts

This is pretty similar to the DIY mantel we made in our old house but more of an empty box than a build-around because we were making a fireplace from a blank wall.

First you’ll start by making your cuts. Use the saw of your choice; we went with the miter saw. Overall, our mantel is 55 inches wide and 10 inches deep, but make sure to measure your space in case it’s a little different to ours.

We started with the top and bottom pieces, which are the 1×10 cut at 53.5 inches, and the side pieces which are the 1×6 cut at 9.25 inches. You want your top and bottom pieces to fit inside the side pieces, rather than on top of them, if that makes sense, which will make it look more seamless in the end.

For the same reason, make sure your front piece that folds down will go the full width of your mantel box (the width of the top piece plus the thickness of the side pieces), so cut the remainder of the 1×6 piece to that measurement, which for us was 55 inches.

Assemble your box

So, this next step will depend on what you’re working with, whether it’s an existing fireplace you’re replacing the mantel on or a full build like we did.

For us, because we’d already built the base part of the fireplace, we assembled the mantel from bottom to top. We nailed the bottom piece down onto the fireplace surround we’d just built, then nailed the side pieces into place. Lastly, Alex held the top piece flush between the two side pieces while I nailed it into place.

Bonus step: Add inner dividers

You probably don’t need to do this for structural reasons, but we added these just in case because we knew the mantel would have some weight on it with the upper portion of the fireplace going to the ceiling. For these two dividers we added, we used some scrap wood we had and cut it down to the depth of the mantel and height of the inner space and slid them into place. We then screwed them in from the top of the mantel structure to hold them in place.

Another bonus step: add your cord holes

We have the TV mounted above the fireplace and needed to be able to run cords down the wall and to the outlet at the bottom of that wall, so we used our hole saw on the drill to make a Mouse Trap level tunnel system through the mantel.

We made one hole at the top, one through the divider in the inside of the mantel, and one on the bottom that would allow the cords to run straight down over the outlet below.

Add the front piece

This is where the whole idea comes to fruition! Take your hinges (we used three – one for each divider space) and screw them into the inner part of the mantel according to the directions on your particular hinges

Now, take your front piece and hold it in place flat underneath the opened hinge, and mark where you’ll need to drill. Attach the hinges to the front piece and voila! You’ve got a hinged opening.

To be honest, this was a total fluke for us to be able to get the hinges attached correctly the very first time, so don’t feel bad if you need to adjust the hinges up or down, in or out a little bit to get it perfectly flush when it’s closed.

Sand and stain

This may seem counterintuitive but we sanded and stained once the whole thing was assembled, since we knew we’d need to be doing some nailing and patching.

On that note, add some wood filler to each of the nail holes, then sand the whole piece down. Wipe it clean with a damp rag or tack cloth, and you’re ready to stain. Once the stain has dried, add some sealer to the whole piece and you’re ready to go!

Check out the tools and materials we used for this project.

If you make your own DIY fireplace mantel with storage let us know, because we’d love to see and share! Also sign up for our newsletter for more DIYs.