DIY Home Decor: Fake It Til You Make It--A Faux 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.” 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…
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 :)
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.
My sister wanted her fireplace surround and mantle on a platform, so I built that first.

fake it til you make it a faux fireplace, diy, fireplaces mantels, living room ideas, woodworking projects

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 1/4″ from outside to outside).
Then I attached the shelf for the middle part and 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 while the glue was drying. Once the glue was dry, I attached the doors with hinges. 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 :)
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.
And now she’s got a beautiful new faux fireplace and tv stand combo!