Reclaimed Barn Wood To Make Over The Family Room Mantel

{I want to thank Latex Agent for collaborating with me on this Reclaimed Barn Wood Mantel Makeover. All opinions are my own.}

This Reclaimed Barn Wood Mantel Makeover was one of our home goals for 2017. It is the beginning of February and we can take it off the list! Wahoo!!! This project has been in the back of my mind for a long time, but we have had much bigger projects (back porch and kitchen) to take off the list first. With more projects and room makeovers at a standstill right now, we decided to knock this small project off the list.

When we bought our home, we added built-ins in lower level family room. It is still one of my favorite projects we have done to our home. Since we added them, I have always wanted to add a little more character above the mantel. Shiplap is nice, but I wanted something with more charm and a lot more character.

After we got the built-ins done, I found a mirror that fit above the mantel perfectly at a yard sale for $5. The mirror is heavy, beveled and makes the room feel bigger than it is. I knew I would change the frame of the mirror some day, but other projects were more important so it just never got done. Until now!

The frame had a shiny finish to it. It is wood, but whatever finish they put on it made it shiny and I knew that paint would not stick to it well.

When Latex Agent contacted me, I knew their Oil Bond would work perfectly on the mirror and we could finally complete the Reclaimed Barn Wood Mantel Makeover.

{Affiliate links are used in this post. You can read my disclosure HERE.}

When I am working on projects in the winter, I am limited to what I can do. It is usually too cold to work outside and I can’t use a lot of products inside. The Oil Bond from Latex Agent can be used inside!! That sold me immediately. Any product that will keep me working throughout the winter months, is a product I get happy to try. I don’t want to slow down when the weather gets cold and Oil Bond let’s me keep up the pace.

When I opened the Oil Bond, I thought there would be some kind of odor, but I was pleasantly surprised that it had a faint, almost citrus, scent to it. It was perfect for using inside. I felt very confident while I was using it inside. For the mirror, I used a paint brush to put the Oil Bond on the frame. It cleans and deglosses in one step!!! What DIYer doesn’t love that?!

After it dried, I painted the mirror in “Mason Dixon Gray” from Dixie Belle Paints. When the paint dried I used sandpaper to rub some of the paint off. Then, I rubbed a little Antiquing Wax all over the frame and some White Wax on it as well.

This mirror is finally finished! It has reached its full potential! I love it.

Now that I had the mirror done, it was time to work on the reclaimed wood wall behind it.

I knew I wanted wood with history and character behind the mirror and I knew exactly where to go to get it.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I have a friend who loves rescuing amazing pieces like I do. I reached out to her to see if she had anything I could use for the mantel wall.

She did and it came out of this house!!!!

She was able to get into this house the day before it was torn down and got some reclaimed barn wood.

I wish I had known she was doing this because I would have loved to go with her! Look at that wallpaper in one of the bedrooms!!

We got the reclaimed barn wood and sanded it down to clean it and smooth it out a bit.

Matt measured and cut the wood to fit the wall above the mantel.

We also had to cut the molding on the built-ins which made me nervous, but in the end it worked out so well and made the flooring fit so much better.

The flooring looks so good and really adds the character I wanted on this wall. Sometimes when Matt and I finish little projects like this, we always say, “What took us so long?” It made such a huge difference and didn’t take a long time to do it. We should have done this a long time ago.