A Faux Fireplace? Yes, Please!

*Update*  I have entered my faux fireplace in the One Month To Win It craft competition!  Please visit the site here: One Month To Win It

One of my husband's favorite things {besides me, of course} is a good fire.  He also loves old mantles.  Unfortunately, in our current home, we have no fireplace or mantle.  Yea, it's pretty pathetic at Christmas time...the stockings get hung on the...wall.  Ewww.  The fire pit in the lanai provides the fires that we love to sit around and talk, so I decided to provide the fireplace and mantle.

I was inspired by Heart Break Kids' faux fireplace.  Actually, as soon as I saw it, I pinned it on Pinterest and my comment was, "I WILL do this before Thanksgiving."  And I did!  I went straight to the "As Is" section of Ikea and found four perfect cabinet doors.

Two of the narrower cabinet doors were $6.99 and the other two were $8.99.  They are pretty heavy and when I got them home, I realized a little too short.  My brain had to go into "bright idea mode." 

I found this piece of board in my garage.  This board came with these transom windows.

I used another piece of wood that was in my Ikea stash to measure the sizes for the three boards I needed.  {And no, I didn't use a measuring tape.  I used my eyeball and a pencil :)}  I don't know why I didn't take a picture of it.  I believe it was a shelf and it was black.  You will see it in the following pictures.  I spray painted it Valspar's Bright White.  BTW, it took me awhile to hand cut those boards, but I just kept repeating to myself, "Building muscle, building muscle..."  It didn't really help....still sucked.

Attached the cabinets and the three board together will L Brackets.  They were about $5 for eight.  At this point, I set it up with the Ikea shelf and you know what?  I didn't love it.  I didn't even really like it.  It needed more character and I wanted shiny white with a rustic element.  In come the pallets:

This is the same pallet that I took two boards from to make this sign.  I ripped off all the boards.  Arent' they awesome?  I love me some old, weathered boards...especially ones with rusty nails!

The total for the project was approximately $35.  I only had to pay for the cabinet doors and L Brackets, everything else I had on hand.

My fireplace is not all attached together.  I think leaving it in separate pieces will make it easier to move around the house and when we move this summer.

NOW I love it.  I'm still thinking of nailing the pallet boards together with additional boards to make it a chunkier mantle, but this will do for now.  I also need to buy some backing for it so you can't see the wall.  After Thanksgiving, it is getting moved to the entry and "the stockings will be hung by the chimney with care..."

Feels so gooooooood to be BACK!

Libby


Linking here:
My1929 Charmer
You Are Talking Too Much
DIY Home Sweet Home
So Very Creative
I Heart Naptime
Hazel and Honeysuckle
Funky Junk Interiors
Be Different...Act Normal
Remodelaholic
Making The World Cuter
Polly Want A Crafter?
Everything Under the Moon
The Shabby Creek Cottage
At The Picket Fence
Stuff and Nonsense
2805
Common Ground
The Charm of Home
tatertots & Jello
Young and Crafty
Making The World Cuter

Fabulously Flawed