Our Hopeful Home: DIY Rustic Corbel French Farmhouse Shelf and Dining Room Fall Decor

farmhouse sign rustic vintage corbel shelf

I've dreamed of building a rustic corbel french farmhouse shelf in my dining room for the last two years. Well, that dream finally became a reality recently and let me tell you, some things really are worth the wait. Just in time for fall decorating, the shelf of my dreams has proven to be even better than I imagined. Ironically, once we got down to it, the entire thing came together in no time.

Menard's cottage shelving 5/8" x 3/4" x 36"

I began with a prefinished 48"L x 8"W plank in "Cottage" finish I picked up at a local big box home improvement store. I purposefully chose a board that already had a rustic, vintage-looking faux stain/patina to it. This saved me a lot of time, money and effort. I waited as long as it took (which ended up being months), until I found some affordable vintage-inspired french farmhouse-style corbels that were just perfect for my project.

distressed white vintage scroll artwork corbel

Here's one of the corbels in all its glory. Already painted white and distressed? Um, yes please! The dream was getting closer to becoming a reality. However, life got in the way and this wall stayed blank for many more months. Then I finally cleared that side of the dining room of the inevitable clutter that accumulates when a certain someone uses that room as her office.

Here's the blank wall before.

And here's the back side of the corbel. There were two "keyholes" to be used for hanging. (As an aside I believe we ended up only using the top keyholes, since I knew I was never going to be placing anything really heavy on the shelf.)

My husband smartly made templates of the backs of the corbels, including exactly where the keyholes were. Then he taped the templates to the wall to get an idea of proper placement. We measured the length of the wall and made sure to place the corbels in a position where the shelf, once placed upon the corbels, would end up right in the middle of the wall.

floral velvet pumpkins lambs ear farmhouse script sign

Once the corbels were attached to the wall with one wall anchor each, all I had to do was place the prefab board on top of them and the "shelf" was ready for decorating! I was thrilled to finally be able to properly display my large script "farmhouse" sign. Along with pretty floral and velvet pumpkins and lamb's ear, of course.

I mixed deep, jewel-toned velvet pumpkins, as well as romantic floral pumpkins, with sparkly lamb's ear and white berries.

floral pastel velvet pumpkins lambs ear filler

dining room buffet sideboard wooden tiered tray corbel shelf

I had fun decorating the buffet as well. I went with the less is more approach and was quite happy with the outcome. I flanked it with two farmhouse wire pedestal cloches filled with remote candles. I added a two part wall art canvas that says "grateful hearts gather here" which I thought was very appropriate in light of the approaching Thanksgiving holiday.

grateful hearts gather here canvas wall art wooden tiered tray pumpkins

For the centerpiece I placed a three-tier wooden farmhouse stand and styled it for fall. The display piece was originally black, but I took to it with white paint and transformed it with my Vaseline distressing technique. I filled the tiers with Dollar Tree pumpkins, leaves, acorns, a small wooden sign and a vintage baking tin filled with candy corn. I love changing it up for the seasons.

script wooden farmhouse sign dining room buffet wooden three tiered stand

I also filled a large green carboy, seen to the left of the buffet, with pumpkin stems from Dollar Tree.

I absolutely love the look of the corbels in particular and the shelf in general. You can find prefab shelves with faux vintage corbels like this for mucho bucks online as evidenced below:

$198.00? Nah.

Here are the corbels I purchased. Including shipping for the corbels and the cost of the board ($8.99), my DIY rustic corbel French farmhouse shelf cost less than $45.00. If you're interested in purchasing the same corbels, leave me a comment and I will send you a direct affiliate link to Antique Farmhouse so you can purchase some for yourself.

Trust me when I tell you -- from experience -- that if you're really in love with a certain style of decor or particular decor element for your home, but it's too expensive for your budget, there's usually a way around it! Just be patient! I am the literal poster child for the axiom "Good things come to those who wait."

Well, that's it until next time, friends! And if you liked reading about my DIY Rustic Corbel French Farmhouse Shelf, I know you'll enjoy reading about the DIY floating farmhouse shelves we built for the other side of the room! You can check them out below.