Faux Fireplace Reveal

We actually finished a project! I am pretty darn proud of this one too! There were a few hiccups, as with any project, but for the most part it worked exactly as i thought. The entire build took us about four days, but only because we had little time to work on it, but it was worth it! We started out by disassembling the tv stand shelves so we had a very basic frame to work with.

After that, we went to Home Depot and gathered our supplies 

1- 2x2x8= $1.98ea

11- lath pieces [trim] = $0.45 ea

1- 1/8x4x8 plywood =$13.98ea 

[we had Home Depot cut the front and 2 side pieces for us and we had lots of leftover]

2-6' baseboard molding =$6.98ea

1-1x18= $19.98 

[this is the board for the shelf so cut at the length you want, I wanted it to hang over 1" on the front and both sides so Ill get a 1x18 and cut it to 1x13.5x51]

brad nailer = $27.99

the other supplies we used were :

saw 

[we used our friends circular saw since our miter saw was stolen but a miter would be best here]

pencil 

level 

tape measure 

paint and brushes 

After we gathered all our supplies we got to work building the frame. We reused most of the wood from the original frame and just filled in with new wood when we ran out, so if you are starting from scratch you'd obviously need more than 1 2x2 but it also depends on the size you're going for. Zack measured and cut the boards and attached them to the frame making the back match the front and then we covered the back with the excess plywood by nailing it in with our brad nailer. 

just the front boards on 

finished frame

With the frame completely built it was time to start what i called the "fun part." Also known as making a bunch of wood look pretty! We first attached the side pieces using the brad nailer. After that, we laid the front piece on and traced the opening with a pencil and zack cut it out with the circular saw and then nailed it onto the frame. 

Once all the plywood was attached we started on the baseboard molding. We used baseboard for two reasons. The first being that the angles are much easier to cut [45 degrees] and second because i wanted the top and bottom molding to match, plus it was cheaper. So, we measured cut and TRIED to attach it with liquid nails. This is where the hiccup was. The molding was just sliding down the frame. We thought using the clamps would help with this but it was a pain to work around so we tried to nail them on with the brad nailer and for some reason it WOULD NOT go all the way trough the molding. So we would nail it then have to hammer that nail in, then do another and so on and so forth, it was quite annoying but it is what it is and we got it on. 

Adding the molding was a pain in the butt and took longer than expected but it had to be done before the trim could go on. As soon as we finished the molding we moved onto the trim. I had drawn out exactly how I wanted the trim to look so Zack cut it and I nailed it all down. 

Basically at this point we were done. I gave the trim a light sanding [lath is a bit rough], wiped it down with a damp rag, and adding three coats [two sample cans] of paint and voila.

I haven't bought the wood shelf for the top yet because I was trying to decide exactly how i wanted it to look but now i know I want a 1" over hang on the front and sides so I just need to get down to Home Depot and buy it, I'm just too lazy right now. So for now, i am using the wood that was on the TV stand and this is how it looks in my living room. 

I absolutely love it and Im so proud of it! I need to find the perfect round basket and some logs for the center and It will be perfect! 

xoxo, 

Jackie