Look at me trying to sound fancy by using crazy words like faux. I mean I could have totally used “fake,” but I opted for the more classy “faux” instead. Let’s be honest, I totally googled the definition for both before I wrote this post just to see the difference. And, I totally googled the spelling of the word “til” as well to make sure it wasn’t 2 Ls. Look, I didn’t major in English.
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Last week I took you back to high school geometry with my coffee table. This week we are going back to elementary school spelling and grammar. Everybody on the bus! Just kidding…
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So on to the fireplace…my sister had asked me to build her a “faux” fireplace to set her TV (massive TV I might add) on to replace the metal and glass stand she had but didn’t like. Simple enough, I thought. But, then she started sending me a gazillion pictures of fireplaces like “can you do this, but make this part like that, then do the moulding like this, but not make this part so big? Oh, and I want it to come in at this point but stick out here.”
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Oh. Em. Gee. “Um, why don’t I come over and we can draw out a picture and get the design settled?” Is this what having “clients” is like? Love my sister, she’s just a little picky…
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Anyway, so I went over and measured the space and we drew out a picture of what she wanted. Don’t laugh, it’s drawn by hand and on a church bulletin and totally not proportional and I drew it in a hurry. Don’t judge me. Here’s the rough idea:
Some things changed in the process of the build, but this gave me a good idea and I made her sign off on it so she couldn’t complain when it was done that it wasn’t what she told me she wanted. Just kidding…but I did think about it 🙂
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I didn’t have a plan that was exactly what she wanted built, but I used some inspiration from Ana White’s version of a faux fireplace. Ana White is amazing. I want to be her, but I’m not cool enough.
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For this build, I used:
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My sister wanted her fireplace surround and mantle on a platform, so I built that first.
I used my kreg jig to drill pocket holes in pieces of 1×12 about 6″ long and used pocket hole screws to screw them into a 1×12 piece the length she wanted the platform to be (about 55″) on each end and the middle. I used my nail gun to attach a piece of 1×6 (it didn’t go from top to bottom, but this isn’t supporting weight, so it didn’t matter) onto the front then attached the baseboard.
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She wanted the surround to sit back from the front a couple inches, so I used 1×10 pieces for the sides and pocket hole screwed them into the platform making sure they were spaced so that the 1×12 front would fit (11 ¼″ from outside to outside).
Then I attached the shelf for the middle part using pocket holes and screws on the bottom side and used my nail gun to attach the crown moulding around the top. In hindsight, I would have attached the mantle before putting on crown moulding, but I wanted to make sure the mantle was wide and deep enough to cover the crown. No big deal doing it backwards, just makes it a little harder to line up the edges.
I cut the front doors to fit and glued the moulding on. I attached the mantle top using pocket holes and screws from the inside of the side sections while the glue was drying. Once the glue was dry, I attached the doors and middle with two hinges per door. Both sides swing out and the middle folds down (just like the Ana White one).
Painting is the devil, so since I was doing this for free labor, I told sissy that she could paint. I was nice and puttied, caulked, sanded, primed, and sanded again before I gave it to her to paint. I can be nice 🙂
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I’m sure she had fun painting it and I didn’t want her to miss out on some fun!
She’s a trooper…it’s a bazillion degrees outside right now.
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And now she’s got a beautiful new faux fireplace and tv stand combo!
These are my sisters dogs, Rufus and Wally. Roo is my fav. He’s so cute and photogenic.
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I love this fireplace and she’s so excited to decorate it for holidays. It’s always good to have a place to hang your stockings 🙂
The best news of all? She liked it, too. Whew glad to have that one checked off the list! I have a feeling that’s not the last project I will do for my sister, though haha. That’s okay. She goes clothes shopping with me, which is a nightmare, so I owe her a few 🙂
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Your turn! If you don’t already have a fireplace, why not fake it and make it before it’s time to find a place to hang your stockings? Happy building!!!
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