Fireplaces have long been associated with the very concept of home, warmth and comfort. But it’s not possible to make a real one everywhere, and in city apartments this is rather an exception. And in private houses, it is better to plan a full-fledged brick fireplace at the construction stage. But with a good imitation, everything is much simpler - it will perfectly complement your bedroom or living room. We'll tell you what you can do!
False fireplace made of cardboard
To shop around for artificial fireplaces and have fun with your kids, your first test model can even be made from unwanted cardboard boxes. Large boxes of equipment are ideal - from one - a podium, from the other - the fireplace itself.
Mark the doors for the future firebox, carefully cut them and fold them inward. To connect the parts, only wide tape will be enough. Cover the fireplace with beautiful wrapping paper or leftover wallpaper and decorate it with ready-made polyurethane elements.
False fireplace made of brick
This is the most spectacular and most believable, but also one of the most expensive options. Although, if you have some unnecessary brick left over from a construction site, this is a great reason to put it to use. Basically, you just need to lay out a niche of the shape and size that you like.
There are no tricks here - the masonry is the same as for walls or partitions. All the same solution, neat seams, and if desired, paint on top. You can place a wooden or stone shelf on top, and fill the niche with candles. Brick is not afraid of fire and temperature, so feel free to take the real thing.
The only serious problem with brick is its impressive weight, so check the condition of the floors first. To calculate the required quantity, think about your dimensions and divide them by the size of one brick. The most important thing when laying is to constantly monitor the straightness of each row with a level.
False fireplace made of wood
If you prefer eco-style and natural materials, then a false fireplace can even be made from wood. Sheets of plywood with a thickness of 8 mm or more are best suited for this - they are easy to cut and join. For the frame, use beams measuring approximately 4x4 cm, and for fastening - self-tapping screws and liquid nails.
Keep in mind that the wooden structure on a frame made of beams is quite heavy, so you will need a podium for stability. Sew the base with plywood, cover the seams with corners and putty all the joints. You can leave additional niches, shelves or other elements, and only the decor will remain.
False fireplace from old furniture
Any old cabinet or cabinet made of chipboard can be reassembled into a false fireplace, just like a cardboard box. Only it will be incomparably neater and stronger, and unlike drywall, it will also be more mobile. Old shelves are suitable for the base, an unnecessary drawer is suitable for the podium, and small doors are suitable for the side walls.
Chipboard is an unpretentious material, but you need to work with it carefully. To prevent the slabs from crumbling, cut all the lines to the end and do not screw the fasteners into the same place twice. Be sure to cover the edges with a special decorative tape - this way they will not swell or become deformed.
Features of material selection
The choice of building material for making an artificial fireplace is very large, the variety of options is amazing, but you need to find the right one for you. To make the right choice, focus on a number of factors: your work skills, budget, room interior, desired result. What construction stores can offer:
- Brick - used for the construction of a bulky full-fledged analogue. To build a structure you will need a clear drawing, a large budget and excellent construction skills. An excellent addition to such a decorative brick building can be a real fire, which can be easily obtained by installing a bio-fireplace into the system.
- Wood - wood means plywood, chipboard, chipboard, timber. Building a wooden fireplace is not difficult. The frame is fastened together from timber and sheathed with plywood, or a structure is immediately created from ready-made chipboard sheets. The resulting structure will have sufficient strength, which will allow you to place additional decorative accessories in it and on it. You can see how to make a false fireplace out of wood on many websites, including ours.
Original wooden building in the form of a portal
- Drywall - this material is used for covering the metal or wooden frame of a decorative product. Anyone can make a fireplace from plasterboard; it is the most pliable and easiest to install building material. There are plenty of manuals on the Internet for constructing gypsum plaster casts.
- Polyurethane - most often stores sell ready-made portals made of this material. All you have to do is bring the decorative polyurethane fireplace to your home, unpack it and install it in the right place. Polyurethane is a modern, higher quality and durable analogue of gypsum, which is gradually fading into the background.
- Gypsum - gypsum portals are becoming less and less popular. This is explained by their fragility, heavy weight, tendency to darken from moisture and the appearance of yellowness over time. At the same time, a plaster decorative fireplace will look great in a classic interior, and its main feature can be stucco molding made by you personally.
- Foam plastic - this material perfectly imitates volume and at the same time has practically no weight. You can build yourself an excellent fireplace out of foam plastic, which you will take out for the holidays and put away in the pantry on weekdays. There are no difficulties in working with such material.
Foam version of the fireplace portal
- Cardboard - building a fireplace from cardboard is considered a very simple and natural task. This pliable packaging material easily takes on the desired shape, which just needs to be fixed. Decorating with the help of improvised materials will hide the unsightly appearance of cardboard, resulting in an exclusive and beautiful thing.
- Old furniture - many craftsmen can assemble a fireplace from an old cabinet, but for the production of a beautiful decorative structure this approach is hardly justified. All such old wardrobes, chests of drawers, bedside tables have already outlived their usefulness and are not suitable for making a new product. However, this is the opinion of our editors exclusively; you may have completely different thoughts on this matter.
Good to know: False fireplace with candles, creating a candle fireplace with your own hands
As you can see, there are plenty of options for making a false fireplace in an apartment yourself; choose the appropriate material and start construction. It is worth noting that regardless of the material chosen, the principle is approximately the same. Whatever you decide to make your dummy from, there is only one tactic. We will look at how to build a decorative fireplace step by step with your own hands below.
False fireplace made of plasterboard
Assemble a small frame of a false fireplace from profiles, but it is better to attach a large and heavy one directly to the wall. If you still have rack profiles after construction or renovation, this is their time.
The sheets are cut into the required fragments of any shape, size and configuration - a regular construction knife is suitable for this. Be sure to take into account ends and overlaps in your calculations. All corners are closed with special corner profiles, and the top is rubbed with putty.
The surface is primed, and then you can paint and decorate it with anything you like. For example, cover it with imitation stone, and hang a mirror in a niche for volume. In the future, you can easily change the finish - this is another advantage of drywall.
Drywall portal
An imitation fireplace made of plasterboard is also a stable, high-quality construction. The frame for such a fireplace can be made from wood as in the previous description, or you can use an aluminum profile. In the latter case, the profile will be attached directly to the wall, and the drywall will be attached to it.
Before you begin assembling the fireplace, draw a contour on the wall along which you will mount the profile.
Depending on the material from which the wall is made, use suitable fastening elements for the profile.
In the photo: Plasterboard portal for a false fireplace
The fireplace frame is assembled from the side walls, and the hearth area is prepared last.
Cover the frame with sheets of plasterboard.
Putty all joints and level.
The frame of a fireplace made of plasterboard can be absolutely anything, since the steel frame is able to withstand quite a large weight of finishing structures and decor.
The electric hearth is installed in the niche of the false fireplace only after all finishing work.
False fireplace made of polyurethane
It is impossible to make a real fireplace from polyurethane, but a good decorative imitation is quite possible. This is a modern material that bends easily and takes on absolutely any shape. It is used to make ready-made portals with imitation of wood or stone carvings - you just need to glue them to the wall.
In stores you sometimes find ready-made kits for false fireplaces. Essentially, this is a kind of 3D puzzle that you just need to unpack and assemble according to the instructions. All that remains is to color it to match your interior.
Product style: DIY fireplace made of brick, natural stone and wood
For lovers of antiquity, this can be a stylization of medieval models using artificial or natural stone. In the spacious living room, a voluminous false fireplace with a wide mantelpiece and a deep “firebox” niche, which is actively used for decorative details, looks great. These could be candlesticks, a stack of firewood, family photographs, and flower arrangements.
A creative idea for placing a false fireplace in a dark living room
Brickwork in the fireplace area
Beautiful romantic design of the fireplace opening in Provence style
False fireplace made of foam plastic
Basically, it's a simple box that you cut and fold yourself. Take several sheets 10 cm thick, cut them into parts and glue them together, and use self-tapping screws for a more reliable fixation. By the way, packaging foam from household appliances is usually denser than finishing foam - and therefore stronger.
To cut sheets, you will need a small hacksaw for metal - this way the foam will not crumble. Take your time and cut the lines completely so as not to break anything. For connection there are special adhesive solutions for foam plastic - other glue will not work on impermeable material.
First, mark the floor for the future foundation, and begin to gradually put together the parts. Immediately check all surfaces with a level until the adhesive solution sets. Puttying smooth foam is problematic, so place a painting mesh on top. Ready-made elements are suitable for the design of the portal - columns and half-columns, stucco molding, shelves, moldings.
Corner false fireplace
You can make a neat corner false fireplace with your own hands from a large cardboard box - for example, from a TV or heater. You need to completely cut off one wall and fold the remaining three into a triangle. Trim the edges so that it fits perfectly into your corner in size.
Then all that remains is to cut through the portal - and you can move on to finishing and decorations. For example, cover a mini-fireplace with wallpaper that resembles brickwork, and lay a wooden corner shelf on top - and you will get a neat cabinet-tabletop.
Cardboard portal
The easiest and cheapest way is to make an imitation fireplace out of a box. Most of us always have one or two boxes of household appliances that need to be thrown away, but never get around to it. Now they can find a worthy use for themselves - to become a false fireplace. The costs in this case are minimal - both physical and material. Additionally, to create a false fireplace you will need PVA glue, a stationery knife, scissors, a tape measure or measuring tape, and adhesive tape.
You can use one large box or many small ones.
You can lay out a square portal from several boxes, securing them with tape, in accordance with the original dimensions of the design layout. The frame from a large box is also very simple to make: in the center of the front side of the future fireplace, a window of any shape is cut out - a square or a semicircle. In the future, this will be the hearth zone. If you plan to put candles or garlands in the fireplace, then you need to provide a shelf inside the portal.
In the photo: Cardboard portal for a false fireplace
The use of additional materials will depend on the portal design. If the fireplace requires columns and bas-relief, then you can use corrugated cardboard, papier-mâché, etc. for this. You can also additionally buy stucco molding in the store and glue it with double-sided tape.
From a sheet of cardboard (this can be one side of another box or a whole sheet), we cut out a lid-shelf, make a pedestal - the base for the portal. In order to hide joints and irregularities on the front side of the portal, you can use old newspapers or plain paper.
To add stability and strength to the fireplace, you can make stiffening ribs around the entire perimeter; you can also use corrugated cardboard, as shown in the photo.
The corner fireplace model is made a little differently - you need to bend the box, create a corner, or disassemble small boxes into separate sheets and form a frame for the fireplace from them. A corner fireplace will save space.
When the portal is almost ready, all that remains is to cover it.
The following may be suitable as cladding:
- wallpaper for brick or stonework;
- painting in any color (you will first need to cover the frame with paper so that it is even);
- pasting with foam bricks and their further painting;
- decoration with ready-made stucco.
The easiest way to glue the decor is with a glue gun.
It is worth noting that an imitation fireplace made of cardboard or cardboard boxes is short-lived; most often this design is assembled for themed photo shoots or for holidays.
How to make a fire for a false fireplace?
There is no question of any open fire in a false fireplace, and even using real candles is quite dangerous. Therefore, let’s figure out how and with what you can effectively simulate a hearth.
A bright orange-red LED strip runs along the contour of the niche from below. Place a transparent aquarium bowl with water or glass balls inside - and the fire will come to life with the refraction of light.
There are safe bio-fireplaces on sale that can be built into home imitations. This is an advanced alcohol burner with virtually no odor, smoke or risk of fire. In enclosed spaces without chimneys, this is the only option for a live open fire.
Lamps that imitate fire or special electronic photo frames look interesting. They display an image of a flame with characteristic sounds and crackling sounds. But keep in mind that such frames are quite expensive, because they are simplified miniature plasmas.
Do-it-yourself false fireplace - photo
In fact, you can make a false fireplace in any way and from anything - everything is to your taste. And to show this in practice, we have put together a large selection of photo ideas for you!
Artificial fire for a fireplace and imitation of a flame in a fireplace with your own hands
Some craftsmen resort to paints and paint an artificial fire inside the firebox with their own hands. With the right lighting, you get a stylish piece that resembles a burning hearth.
An effective solution would be to purchase a mobile false fireplace, which they will help you make in a furniture workshop, which will allow you not to tie the interior design to a stationary piece of decor, but to use it in different rooms.
An unusual but interesting place for a decorative fireplace is the hallway
Drawing a flame for a false fireplace using large chalk
A clear example of creating a false fireplace from scrap material
