5 Steps To Making Your Own Faux Fireplace
“Christmas is a season for kindling the fire for hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.”
– Washington Irving
Let’s get cozy!
For those of you who celebrate Christmas, the Holiday Season is a truly magical time. And no Christmas is complete without large stockings hanging on a fireplace, filled with all sorts of goodies.
So what do you do if you have not got a fireplace? Simple! You build one that won’t break your budget. Read on to find out just how you can do that in just a few hours time.
For this fireplace, we used MDF because it is inexpensive, lightweight and easy to paint over. To save yourself time, ask your local wood depot to cut the MDF to the appropriate sizes for you. That way all you have to do is take the pieces home and stick them together.
To make the process even easier for you, here are the sizes that were used for the fireplace in this post
Let the building begin!
Now that you have all the MDF pieces, it is time to start putting them all together. You will start with the base.
STEP 1: The base
The height of the base matches the height of the skirting boards in the room where the fireplace will stand. So if your skirting is higher that what we have on our drawings, we recommend that you adjust the MDF sizes to suite.
Use the caulking gun to apply the wood glue to all the pieces. Place the base on a surface like a table and use the clamps to hold the edges in place while the glue sets.
STEP 2: The facade
It is best to start with the side pieces (labelled “E”). Place the pieces on a surface and glue 2 battens onto either edge. You can use the clamps to hold them in place.
Once the glue has set, mark out points along the top edge of the MDF. The points should be at regular intervals and can be about 15cm apart. At every point, hammer the round-finish nails into the MDF where it meets the batten. This will provide added stability to the structure.
When you have completed the 2 sides, glue and nail the facade piece to the front.
Next, add the pieces labelled “F”. Glue and nail them to the remaining 2 battens. When adding these pieces to the front piece “D”, it is very important to remember that you must add them behind the facade. This will help to create a neat flush look from the front and leaves enough space for you to include the piece labelled “H” above them.
Once that is complete, you can then add the piece labelled “H”. Simply place it on top of the “F” pieces. Add glue and let it all set.
STEP 3: The mantelpiece
The mantel piece is a smaller version of the base and will be put together in the exact same way. Once the glue is dry and you have removed the wood clamps you can nail the mantelpiece to the top of the battens that are inside the facade.
STEP 4: The corner mouldings
There is a huge variety of corner moulding that you can choose from in your local hardware store. The moulding adds a clean finish to the otherwise rough corners. For this fireplace we used wooden moulding but polystyrene is also a great alternative. The choice is yours. If you like, you can add moulding to all of the edges. We used small nails instead of glue to fix the moulding the fireplace.
STEP 5: Prime and paint.
Once the fireplace is finished and all dry, it is time to prime and paint it. You can get a wood primer from your local hardware store. One coat of primer should be enough. You can then paint your fireplace any colour you like and experiment a bit with paint techniques. We used 2 coats of white indoor paint and applied it with a roller.
Congratulations on your new fireplace! Once the paint has had a chance to dry overnight, you are ready to start adding to the holiday cheer by decorating your fireplace. Add an extra special touch and place dried logs from outside into the hearth. Get fairy lights and place them in among the logs to give off a cozy fire effect.
What’s in store?
In the next post, you will get to see our list of top 10 Holiday Season decorations. You will be able to add those last minute finishing touches to your home, just in time for Christmas.
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Thank you for your support
Thanks. I believe it is important to provide detailed information..it makes for a more successful project and puts the fun back into DIY
Thank you for the kinds words. Writing and design are my passion and I try to convey that through my blog. I’m happy you like it.
I’m happy to have helped.
Thank you very much