I have been wanting one of these for a very long time and just yesterday I realized I had everything already on hand to make one! So I thought, Why not?
I am NOT even close to being a professional “carpenter” so if I can make this than anyone can. 😊
I started off with a 1/4 inch sheet of plywood which was cut to 4ft x 3ft,4in. So that seemed like a good size and so I went with it.
If you were to build one you would ofcourse make it any size you wanted. It’s super easy to change and make your own.
I then placed 2 1″x6″ boards 3’9.5″ long on each side.
Next I put the top part of the hearth down which is 3’10” & secured everything together to the plywood with screws.
Then, the top 2 boards below the mantle, 2’9.5″ were applied and secured in place with a few screws.
I put a scrap piece of wood at the bottom at the back to give it more support. Then I put on the mantle, which measures 3’10”.
Next I put the front piece of the hearth on.
I added 2 triangle supports to the underside of the mantle.
Once I finally had the whole thing built, I could start on the really fun stuff. I thought long and hard what I was going to do for the “inside” of the “fireplace”. I almost painted it black, until, I remembered leftover flooring I had from when we put flooring down in our office.
Without any hesitation I plugged in the hotglue gun and went to work.
Although they were already sticky on the backs, it just wasn’t enough to hold them up, so the hot glue worked great for that.
After sanding down all the rough edges, it was time for a couple coats of white paint!
Then, I noticed that the cracks where I put my planks against the wood weren’t very pretty. But that was no problem, because I had some caulking on hand.
In no time it looked great with nice clean lines.
For the final touch I added some rope to the base to hide an unsightly gap.
I am in love with the final result and it cost me virtually nothing. Everything I used I already had on hand! It can’t get any better than that.
I hope you enjoyed my the little project today. If you did please make sure you subscribe to my blog and leave me a comment with your thoughts!
Much love,
Hollie
Home Sweet Cottage 