Today I am sharing how to stain a yellow southern pine wooden beam as our new mantel. Our new mantel was installed about 7 weeks ago and it’s amazing! It was installed by my friend Jake at Paramount Woodworking (the same person who built the kitchen cabinets for our Police Station Break Room Makeover) and it is the most amazing wooden beam mantel ever. The yellow southern pine wooden beam is over 100 years old and was in the barn when we bought the house this past February. The previous owner had renovated a warehouse in the city near by and he left the beams in the barn. If you didn’t see the blog post, “how to remove a granite stone mantel,” check it out so you can see the before of the fireplace. This was not an easy project, removing the granite mantel, but it’s over now and I love the new wooden mantel 10x more!
Jake picked up one of the beams and sandblasted the old paint off at his shop. Here is the beam below prior to us sanding and staining.
Once the old paint was removed, he ran the beam through his sanding machine and honestly, the beam natural was beautiful.
I wanted a more warm toned rustic look so I ordered Rubio Monocoat Stain in Chocolate. This stain is actually a flooring stain and very durable.
How to stain a Yellow Southern Pine Wooden Beam
1. Simply pour into a small throw away container and apply with a sponge
2. Prior to staining, you must sand
The mantel was put through Jake’s sanding machine which saved a TON of time.
He also hand sanded as well.
We counted over 100 lines on the beam which means this is a really old beam!
Isn’t that really cool?
Once the beam was sanded, the Rubio Monocoat Chocolate stain was applied with cotton/lint free rag. This was actually the sample wood piece below so we could test the color prior to staining the entire wood beam.
3. Apply stain (wearing gloves) according to the directions on the can. Be sure wood beam is clean from any dust.
Jake is so talented! He custom cut corbels as well for under the mantel. I absolutely love this pine wooden beam.
My son approves!
RELATED: See how we removed the old granite stone mantel, “how to remove a granite stone mantel.”
The chocolate stain is such a fabulous color, deep, dark and rich. I will be sharing in a couple days how we mounted this gigantic (very heavy) beam to the existing fireplace. Lets just say, I got a lesson in steel rebar! Our new stained southern pine wooden beam mantel has completely transformed our living room and has created the rustic modern look we were going after. Don’t forget to check out the prior post that shows the large granite stone mantel, it’s a drastic change from this one. Update: You can see the full reveal of the new rustic mantel here!
Brenda says
Wow, how neat to see the whole process! Thanks for sharing it with us. It’s a really nice color. That was a smart idea to test out the stain on a small piece first to make sure it’s the look you want. That’s a cute picture of your son!
Jessica Bruno says
Thank you Brenda! I love the new mantel so much more than the granite one 😉
Jessica Bruno says
Thank you Brenda! I didn’t want to risk wrecking the beam if the color wasn’t right. My friend (the woodworker) would have killed me if we had to lug another 500 lb beam out of the barn 😉
Mark says
I love what you all did and I think my wife would too. Would you mind telling me what the dimensions for the mantle ended up being? I really like the thickness and depth of yours.
Jessica Bruno says
I am sorry for the late reply, I just found your comment in my trash folder! The mantel is 71 inches long, 11.5 inches wide (deep) and 5.5 inches high.