If you’re wishing for a way to cozy up your apartment or small home for winter, that wish may just be granted via this post! Why not install a faux fireplace? Sure, it’s quite a bit of work. But the pay off in a warm, inviting ambiance will be well worth the effort. Plus, we’ve gathered 11 amazing examples of faux fireplaces (some with full DIY tutorials, some with swoon-worthy pics to inspire you, and a couple with clever cost-saving approaches). Get ready for some real winter season coziness via “pretend” fireplaces!
11 DIY Faux Fireplace to Assemble at Home
1 – Farmhouse style is very much in nowadays. So this first find via Twelve on Main is sure to warm your heart…and home! The post’s tutorial clearly shows how to assemble and mount the fireplace frame, mantel, and the shiplap backdrop. Then, there’s that freestanding stove to highlight the rustic farmhouse feel, while giving actual warmth. Ingenious!
2 – How charming is that “woodpile” filling this whitewashed fireplace! Lauren of Bless ‘er House (via Remodelaholic) presents a detailed step-by-step tutorial for how they transformed blank wall space into this—by refinishing a reclaimed mantel, partly filling it with air stone, then creating a fake “firebox door” covered in glued-on log slices. The double purpose of the firebox? A media cabinet!
3 – This compact DIY faux fireplace from The Pursuit of Handyness makes stylish use of limited space (which just may be your problem, too). The frame and mantel are actually slimmer than a standard fireplace, and a distressed finish mirror fills the space—perfect for reflecting the grouping of candles in glass cylinders.
4 – A grouping of large pillar candles also graces this lovely weathered fireplace we found over at The Budget Decorator. Again, a mirror is used to fill the space. The actual source of this piece isn’t named (if it’s yours, please do let us know!), but as TBD notes, this should be quite easy to replicate with an old fireplace from an antique store.
5 – All dressed up for the holidays! This festive winter charmer is built from a faux fireplace plan from Ana White and is basic enough to be decorated in different ways all year round. But the real plus factor of this project is that it hides roomy storage cabinets on either side.
6 – You can get resourceful, just like Holly of Heart Break Kids did with this DIY faux fireplace. She assembled reclaimed barn wood for the hearth base, two sets of bi-fold closet doors and some random cabinet doors for the frame, faux brick paneling to line the interior, and finally a monogram tile for accent!
7 – An all-white fireplace is always nice and crisp, and gives it the attention it deserves after all your hard DIY work! Shara of Woodshop Diaries shows how she used a plan from Ana White to create this looker from scratch, then added all the delightful personal decor accents.
8 – From Blue Roof Cabin, we discovered this DIY mantel and fireplace assembled from pine boards and trimmed with decorative molding—all at budget prices, if you know where to look. Great tip! The simple, clean lines make this an ideal base, too, for decorating from season to season.
9 – Love this graceful, minimalist style faux fireplace by Kristi of Making It in the Mountains! Note the arched opening instead of the usual straight-edged frame, and the charcoal painted backdrop that sets off the decorative pieces beautifully. See the full tutorial on Kristi’s guest post on AKA Design.
10 – This faux “log-filled” fireplace is actually part of an entire farmhouse-style home filled with delightful, cheery furnishings and decorative touches. Although Courtney of Golden Boys and Me doesn’t provide a how-to for the fireplace, the tour of their home is a joy in itself!
11 – If you’re an avid thrifter and/or recycler, you’ll love how The Poor Sophisticate created this striking eclectic-vintage faux fireplace with all found objects. She describes where the separate elements came from—the heavy wooden beam, the antique barn door, the decorative molding, and the Victorian pediment. And how she uses a portable fireplace to fill in the space in winter, and replaces it with candles in spring and summer.
