EVERY HOUSE NEEDS A MANTLE FOR THE HOLIDAYS



MANTLE OUT OF CARDBOARD.

All you need is a large cardboard box, a box cutter, scissors, tape, , hot glue, brown wrapping paper, and a Sharpie.


Step 1Tape up the corners of a large cardboard box.



I used duct tape to secure the corners of a large cardboard box so that it would stand up on its flaps.


Step 2Cut out a rectangle to leave space for the "fire."




Use a box cutter to cut out a rectangle from one side of the box. I found it easiest to do so on carpeted floor (it didn't hurt the carpet). To give you an idea of the proportions, my rectangle is seven inches out from the edges.


Step 3Cut the box in half.


Since the box is quite large, and I wanted my mantel to only stick out about a foot form the wall, I used the box cutter to cut the box in half, using the flaps as a guide.


Step 4Make extensions to your box if necessary.


Depending on how big your box was to begin with, you may want to make it taller or wider to get it to a good fireplace size. On my box, I cut off the flaps on the half I didn't use and hot-glued them to the bottoms of my fireplace, overlapping by a couple inches. This brought the total height up to four feet. Since it was now so tall, I decided to widen it as well by cutting the horizontal piece in half and inserting another piece of cardboard. This insert was reinforced with more tape and another cardboard piece underneath.


Step 5Decorate your fireplace!






I cut out brown wrapping paper (~$6 at Staples, but I barely used a fraction of the roll) and wrapped the front of the fireplace. I wrapped the middle horizontal piece first, then the sides, and finally the extensions at the bottom. All of it was taped down with brown paper tape. I tried to trim the inside corners to get a mitered corner look.

I looked up Art Nouveau designs and used pencil to sketch my "carvings" onto my fireplace, then traced over it in Sharpie. This website also has a lot of line art examples of different fireplace looks, some of which are easier to reproduce than others:

http://www.stevensons-of-norwich.co.uk/products/paginate_by/all/i

You can use kights that flicker to illuminate your fireplace.  Candles are out of the question.




Another good example.