How To DIY Farmhouse Corbels

These corbels add the perfect detail to our Faux Wood Beam Mantel. We love the way these came out!

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Today I'm going to show you....

How To DIY Farmhouse Corbels

A couple of months ago when we built our mantel and I wanted to add corbels underneath.

Hubby and I looked on Pinterest for inspiration. Once we figured out what we liked and didn't like, Hubby went to work drawing out a pattern. Our corbels measure 7 inches x 11 inches.

Then I traced that pattern 4 times onto a 1x8 board and 2 times on a 2x10 board. There are 3 parts to each of our corbels. The two outer pieces (1x8) and the larger inner piece (2x10).

I used a bandsaw to cut out the corbels. You really need some sort of small saw like that in order to get all the curves.

To help getting in and around the curves, I drilled holes at certain points along the design. That made it much easier for the blade to turn.

Cutting the 1x8 board was a thousand times easier than cutting the 2x10 board. The thickness of the board was a challenge...

They didn't come very smooth, but that's alright, I wasn't looking for perfection. 👍 I slathered on some wood filler, waited for it to dry, then sanded it down.

Here below, I'm marking the center piece with a carpenter square tool.

There is another important thing to consider... I chose to offset the center piece, so that it gave the corbel dimension. You'll need to decide whether you want them all even in front or to offset them, like I did, before you cut your center piece.

I purposely allowed at least an inch in my width and about ½ inch in length to be able to cut the center piece down to fit. That allowed room to make sure the corbels could be cut to square. When I attach them to the wall, I want them to be snug without any gaps.

Once the corbels were square, it was time to move on to staining. I wanted them to look rough and old. Most of this wood was scrap that had been banged up a bit, which worked out perfect.

I chose Minwax Provincial to stain them. I didn't bother with Pre-Stain, since I was going to paint over the stain.

All stained and ready for paint!

Whoops! I did't show the painting process... It really isn't that big of a deal. I used some DIY Chalkpaint that I had on hand. This chalk paint recipe is super easy to make!

After the paint dried, I took some sandpaper and sanded down the edges and roughed them up a bit.

Now, let's talk about this Valspar Antiquing Wax.

I had never used this antique waxing product before, and its quite versatile. In the photo above, the one on right has the wax just brushed on. For the one on the left, I brushed some on and then wiped it off. You can get different looks depending on how heavily you apply the wax.

For this project, we chose to go a bit lighter. I brushed a bit on then wiped it off.