Hello everyone!!
Today as I write this post it is Christmas Eve. The tree is up and the presents are wrapped, but wait there is nowhere to hang the stockings... This happened to me last year and I felt so odd having my stockings hanging randomly on some wall in my living room. I thought it would be nice to have a fireplace, but I live in a condo and unless the place comes with one we are not allowed to have one put in. I thought about my other options such as a faux fireplace, great idea but steep price and with us saving for a wedding paying top dollar was out of the question. I just wanted something that looked nice and didn't even have to actually put out heat. I was just looking for something of a decorative piece. I checked all over the internet for cheap faux fireplaces but even the "cheap" ones were to expensive. Being as crafty as I am I decided I would tackle this project on my own. I would make my own faux fireplace, how hard could it be? Well I will tell you this, it is not a beginner job. I found it to be somewhat of an intermediate job as far as crafting skills, painting skills, and measuring skills. I am someone who can not draw a straight line with a ruler so I found some of my lines were a tad off. I think I will have to go back and touch it up.
Step 1: Decide the space you have available in your room. I put mine on a wall close to a plug so that I could plug lights in sit them on top of the "mantle".
Step 2: Find a shell for your outside piece.I found an old desk at Goodwill for 4 dollars. You can find what ever piece works for you. If you are feeling super crafty you can build something like it. I removed a slide out drawer (seen at the bottom of the desk) and decided to keep it to see what I could do with it.
Step 3: Purchase project foam. I purchased foam from the Home Depot. I got a 4 x12x1 piece which was perfect for me because it allowed me to redo a few pieces with some foam left over. With the help of a store employee I was able to find the foam in the lumber section of the store.
Step 4: Gather other materials. For this job you will need paint in 3 colors, a sharpie marker, a ruler, an exacto knife or box cutter,paint brushes, glue( I used foam friendly gorilla glue), thin grained sand paper, and drop cloths or tarps. I got all of these things at Walmart. For this job I used white, dark gray and light gray latex paints. I found that a quart of each was more then enough for the job. Make sure the paint is flat and not semi gloss or glossy.
Step 5: Paint the outside piece. I used the white to paint the desk. I did not paint the full inside of the desk but you want to paint in about 3-4 inches so that you won't see any of the desk color showing. I had to paint the desk twice to make sure that its natural color was hidden.
Step 6: Measure out your foam pieces to desired height and width. I did this for the two front pieces, and the 4 inside pieces.
Step 7: Mark your measurements on the foam and cut them out. This was a hard part for me because I was not used to working with foam or a box cutter, so many mistakes were made.
Step 8: Find a picture of a rock wall or fireplace that has a rock face. Start drawing similar "bricks" with a sharpie. I does not matter the size of the marker because you will cut it away later. The bricks and be small or big, short and tall, or they can be uniform in size and shape. I depends on how you want it to look. I chose to have mine with all different shapes and sizes.
Step 9: Cut the foam along the sharpie marker line (just above and just below). You will do this by putting your blade at an angle and cutting in. You do not have to cut deep. Don't forget to cut the sides of the foam to make it look like the stone follows through on the sides.Do this for both sides of the marker line and it will look like this:
Once you are done cutting the foam you can use the sandpaper to smooth out the edges. You can also cut the edges off of some stones and gouge chunks out. This will give the effect of old stone or brick. Just dont cut to deep.
Step 10: Paint the foam. You are going to start with your dark gray. Paint everything. This includes the sides, top and bottom, gouges, and the cracks. I suggest using a smaller brush for the cracks and gouges, so you can really fill them in. You may have to paint them again, I did. I also painted the desk drawer dark gray.
Step 11: Apply the light gray paint. You do this by a method called : "dry brushing". You dip your paint brush into the lighter gray and dab off the paint. It will cause the brush to be damp with paint but not dripping. You will tip the brush on its side and start drawing lightly across the top of the foam. This will catch the lifted ridges of the foam leaving the sunken parts to stay dark gray. This will add highlights to the stone and make it look more realistic.
Step 12: Start putting foam pieces all together. I used the glue and toothpicks to stick the pieces together. I put the desk piece on the bottom of the fireplace so it gave the bottom foam piece some lift.
Step 13: Decorate and enjoy! I ran out of time to get a faux log with LED lights and realistic crackling sound, but I gathered up all of my flameless candles and they work just great!.
Good Luck everyone!! Have fun and remember that the more mistakes you make the better you become! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
