Upgrading a Corner in my Room With a Faux Built-In Fireplace
As we wind down towards the end of this year, I wanted to take a step back and dive into a DIY project that's been on my mind for ages…If you've been following for a while now, you might recall a fireplace makeover from my previous home, linked here. I loved that cozy corner of my room, so when I moved I took the electric fireplace with me. Obviously I couldn’t bring the built in DIY aspect from that makeover, so the bare fireplace has been sitting in the corner of my room for a while now. It’s finally time to make it look a little bit more intentional in that corner.
Before
The Plan / Inspiration
So this project's a bit of a puzzle, especially since it's tucked away in a corner. Here are some pictures I pulled for inspiration….
The Process
I found a supply of veneer bricks on Facebook Marketplace for a great price and decided that I would create a faux built-in masonry look surrounding the fireplace in the corner.
After I took all the measurements of the corner and fireplace, I grabbed some good ol' 2x4s and started by creating a frame to surround the electric fireplace. There were a lot of funky angle cuts, but I managed to get it just right so that I could attach a plywood front, leaving a gap for the fireplace to slide inside.
On top of the front plywood piece, I got cement board to attach the bricks to. Once the placement of the bricks was planned out, I started attaching them with some polymer mortar. This stuff is really sticky, so the bricks stayed on great after some trial and error!
All dried, the brickwork looked so good, but the unfinished top needed to be covered up. To create the MCM look I was going for, I crafted a mantle out of a piece of wood and stained it a warm brown colour. After that, I just finished it with a topcoat to give it a nice shine.
The Results
Next was time for final touches, I added some strip lights behind the TV to add some nice ambience, and some decor on the mantle that hid the cords from the TV above. And voila! The transformed mid-century modern-inspired electric fireplace, now ready to cozy up my holiday season and host a plethora of Netflix binges.
As this year draws to a close and so many fun DIYs and room makeovers are behind us, I can't wait to share more makeovers and projects in the new year. Until then, stay cozy, keep crafting, and here's to more DIY adventures ahead.