I have always wanted a fireplace, but all the houses we looked at did not have this feature. It was not a priority, but one of those bonus items I hoped for.

Thank goodness I have a husband who entertains my ideas.

Like building a fake fireplace!

We have this weird corner in our living room, and it also happens to be where they put the cable.

So that is where the TV must go without doing something crazy with the cable wire.

Before we were using an old bookshelf that I have had since I was in elementary school.

While I love this bookshelf and carries sentimental value for me, it was not cutting it for the look we wanted.

Tom came in and worked his magic.

We had to figure out that it wasn’t a square corner so we were working with an oblong triangle. Tom had to figure out how wide the fireplace could be and still be square. He also kept in mind we wanted to put a fireplace like heater in the middle and be able to put the TV on top.

IE: He is really good with math. His words were “Corners are just a mathematical pile of garbage.”

The tricky part of every project is trying to figure out how much wood you need.

Tom used 20 ft of 1 X 10, 20 ft of 1 x 4 (all the back bracing), and 30 ft of various types of trim. This is all pine (our personal favorite to use).

Here, he is making the trim into boxes on a flat piece of wood. It gives the fireplace a little more character with the picture frame affect.

He used a finish nailer to put the trim on.

Once the three long pieces were done with the boxes, he used the bracing in the back to put them together into one piece.

The top is two boards sandwiched. He had to be aware of how much space we needed for the TV, but also so it was snug in the corner. We knew that this will be temporary as we have plans to knock this corner down some day. So we wanted it to look big and fancy but also easily moveable.

We bought one of those space heaters that look like an old fireplace, and just stuck it in.

Then Tom stained the wood.

No joke, we used a piece of black poster board behind the heater so you cannot see the cords. Don’t worry, it is not an actual fire hazard because the heating component is in the bottom front (also something we looked for when we bought this item).

Fireplaces seem magical with stockings, so that was a must for me!

All in all, this project cost about $200, which includes the space heater. If we bought this commercial, it would be at least $500 for just a base model. Some nicer end fireplace inserts cost up in the several thousands.

It looks so perfect and like it was always there. It is probably one of my favorite projects he has ever done.

I honestly don’t know what I would do if he didn’t have these skills.