DIY Faux Fireplace Tutorial

Do you dream of a cozy reading spot next to a fireplace? Today I’m sharing this DIY Faux Fireplace tutorial to help you create a space in your home you’ll love!

My Living Room lacked a focal point.

It needed an element that added warmth as well as a welcoming touch since this was the first room you saw when you came into our Vegas home.

Repurposing this old concrete frame into a DIY Faux Fireplace fixes everything!

One of my Vegas besties resurfaced her fireplace, beautifully I must add! She was going to ditch the builder’s formed concrete surround and I stole… er, got it from her for only $25 bucks!

Previously, I hinted at a teaser of my big project with my Painted Window Sign blog post and today is the day I finally share with you our DIY faux fireplace and how we created it!

DIY Faux Fireplace Tutorial

First, I built a base with a pallet wood and scraps.  I cut pieces of scrap wood we had and left all the blemishes to show for a weathered look.

Don’t show this to any master carpenters – they would die!

This is how I mounted the formed concrete to the wall.  

The concrete frame is rather heavy, so I’m confident it won’t move, but I first placed the 2X4 into the studs, and screwed another on top to anchor the surround. 

Here is a view from the top.

I love how my DIY Faux Fireplace looks like it’s floating there!

It’s magic, y’all!

But we needed to cover those sides.

We trimmed the sides with baseboard molding that I painted, and painted, and painted to match the concrete.

Using craft paint I had on hand, I mixed it until I found the right match.

Bad blogger moment:  I forgot to take pics for a tute on this, but I’ll tell you what I did.

I got a HUMONGO piece of cardboard from a big box store that they were just pitching.

The sales guy looked at me as if I had two heads, but if he only knew what I was going to create with this!

I brought it home and lined it with all types of different paper using a glue stick. Sheet music, old dictionary pages, book pages, scrapbooking paper, etc.

I used an old newspaper from 1953 that lined the soldier’s trunk as a centerpiece to my book page backdrop.  It’s one of my favorite parts of this piece.

Our local grocery store had birchwood logs on clearance for a few bucks.

So I placed them in an old WWII solder’s trunk I found at an estate sale.

Next, I added Christmas lights underneath the logs for that fireplace glow.  

And do you know what’s cool?

Once the lights heat up the birch wood, it creates a nice, cozy smell.

For the mantel, I hemmed and hawed about what to do and when back to my scrap pile.  I needed it to be narrow, but long.

I found 2 fencing timbers that we had left over from shed project we built that I sanded down and glazed a nice dark brown and distressed them to look like pieces of driftwood.

Trent suggested I used twine to ‘tie’ them together.  I love the look it gave.

He has good ideas every now and then! (wink)

Last, I placed my Ballard’s topiary knock off’s I made along with my Painted Window Sign and Shutters. They frame the DIY faux fireplace nicely.

Now I finally have a beautiful place to watch the sunrise and enjoy my morning coffee.

A relatively simple project you can recreate using an old mantel surround – many times you can find one on Craigslist!

So don’t give up hope if you are dreaming of a fireplace in a fireplace-less home!

I just love this room now!

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