DIY Faux Fireplace with Bookcases and hidden storage

DIY Faux Fireplace with Bookcases and hidden storage

Clever Wife Clears Ugly Wall And Hand-Builds Beautiful Fireplace

When it’s cold and snowy outside, there’s nothing better than curling up with a blanket in front of the fire.

Going outside in the winter can be lots of fun, but it’s almost just as fun to sit by some flames with a cup of hot chocolate.

Unfortunately, lots of houses and apartments don’t have fireplaces, so you can’t exactly sit by the fire and get toasty.

One woman who lives in an 1830s farmhouse desperately wanted a fireplace, but her old home didn’t have one.

Instead of just hoping to one day move somewhere with a fireplace, she decided to take matters into her own hands — much like this clever man who made a DIY fireplace insert.

When her husband went out of town on a three-week work trip, she went to the store and picked up the materials she needed. Then she began building.

Read below to see the incredible final result!

The woman knew she wanted to replace her old television stand with the new faux fireplace, which would also feature bookshelf areas and storage solutions.

First, she took the “before” picture to get an idea of the full transformation.

Once she figured out what she wanted to build, she drew out a rough sketch on a piece of paper.

She removed all the previous furniture and put it elsewhere so that she could build her faux fireplace.

Then she taped out her measurements on the floor, just to make sure she had everything perfectly aligned for the space.

The taped-out area let her get an idea of how big the fireplace unit would be once it was completed and in place.

Then it was time to start building.

Working out of her laundry room, she cut down plywood using a circular saw and built the bookcase area.

She used shiplap for the backs of the bookcases, which gave the unit a nice rustic look.

Once the bases were completed, she put them in their places in the living room.

She left some space at the bottom of each bookcase backing, in the event she’d want to run any wiring through the shelving.

After the bookcases were in place, she added some hidden cabinet areas.

Once the storage cabinets were put in, she also added the shelves to the bookcases

Next, she added the rest of the wooden parts to the fireplace. The following steps would be less focused on building and more focused on decorating.

She patched any holes with wood-filler and painted the top white, just to get an idea of what the finished product would look like.

The whole structure was going to be white, so she went with a beautiful white -patterned tile on the inside of the “fireplace” area.

Since this fireplace wouldn’t have actual wood-burning fires in it, hand-placed tile worked perfectly.

After adding the tiles, she grouted and cleaned them to complete the look.

The final product is absolutely stunning!

Before her husband came back from his business trip, she put the television back on top of the unit, and even added a cute photo of the two of them for decoration.