NewlyWoodwards

an unconventional home

A barn beam mantel

by

I don’t think you can ever have too much barn wood.

You can quote me on that.

And when you take down a whole barn, you have an overabundance of barn wood. All of that to say I have a beautiful barn beam mantel.
barnwood mantel3

We chose to use a barn beam we had in our wood pile for the mantel – available, inexpensive and pretty patina. It’s a relatively narrow piece, which worked well for the distance we needed between the wood burning insert and the wood mantel.barnwood mantel1

Ryan drilled out holes to mount the beam to the studs. Then, my father-in-law crafted these cute little pegs to fill the holes. It looks really authentic. I think the pegs may be one of my favorite parts.
barnwood mantel4

Next up – trimming out the hearth area with another barn beam. Stay tuned, my friends. barnwood mantel2

Comments

  1. We are planning on building within the next year and we, too live in Illinois. We had an old barn on our current property that has been in my husband’s family for nearly 100 years, but it collapsed in a small tornado that came through about 2 years ago. We found someone to dismantle it and he kept most of the wood but set aside a beam from the barn for us to use in our new house. I’m glad to see how you used yours–we also plan stone up to the beam and then paint above. Our house won’t be quite as rustic but I think it will still be neat to have that piece of my husband and children’s history in the new place.

  5. I think you need some of those beams up on the ceilings 😉 Love this mantel, in fact I have the exact same in my dining room so of course we’re winning! Please more barn wood.

  6. LOVE it. Your house is coming along so beautifully, and so quickly! (Although I’m sure it feels quicker to me than it does to you.)

  8. I love this!! We are in the process of picking out stone for our fireplace! I love what you chose, can you share what the stone is exactly…. Please!