Building My "Make-Shift Mantle"

Hi All! So Im back to the dining room, the never-ending dining room! Well part of my dining room update (which still isn't done yet, but we're getting closer) was to put up a shelf or two on the wall that I was having trouble with, remember this post.....

Well, that hutch is now gone, decided I didn't like it in this space anymore... Then I did the stripes...

It's gettin there...

Then I decided to just make shelves to put along the wall (well one for now) and I am searching for that perfect piece of furniture to go under the shelf, but I haven't found it yet, so until then, I'll just show ya the "mantle." I'm calling it mantle because even though we have a fireplace, we don't have a mantle on it. 

Im sure one could be put on there somehow, but I dont really want to drill in the marble when I have a whole blank wall I can use...

 So, all I did was buy two corbels from Lowe's ($13/piece) 

And a 6' board (I think that was around $10) Used some paint I already had & I had a new place for display! YAY!

And of course I had help...

She's such a serious worker! 

We painted it brown first (mainly just the edges) then put a coat of white on top of that...

I didn't get too carried away trying to get neat with the painting, I just used a foam roller & didnt push too hard & it already gave it a distressed look without any sanding...

I think I may distress it up a bit more, but I was in a hurry to get it up so I could get my fall stuff out :)

That's all for now..Until I find that perfect piece I'm looking for, then I'll finally get to show the whole room!! And then it'll be time to change it all over again ;) what do y'all think of the white shelf? I know its hard to tell without seeing the whole room, I was going to do it dark to begin with, then I thought I'd go light... Im up for options!!