Make Something Monday--Faux Fireplace

Happy 'Make Something Monday!' (a day late).  Even though in LA, we find ourselves on the beach in bikinis in January,  I often find myself wishing my apartment had a fireplace. Insert the faux fireplace!  If you can make a quick trip to Home Depot for some crown molding + plywood, round up your hammer and nails (or get your sweet boyfriend or Dad to do it for you), then you too can have your very own faux fireplace!  I mean, a girl has got to have a place to hang her stockings at Christmas and a mantel to display her favorite things! 

Since you can't fill your fireplace with actual fire, try using cut logs, books, framed pictures, candles, or just about anything!  Let your faux fireplace imagination run wild!

The folks over at HGTV give us step by step instructions to create a basic fireplace. 

Here are a few of my favorite examples:

I especially love the rustic distressed look of the wood in this one.  Try going to a junk yard to salvage some old wood or create the distressed look yourself with sandpaper! The framed print anchors the books against the back of the black fire box.  And how amazing are those mirrors?!

For a more traditional look, try using crown molding to frame the fire box and fill it with something natural, like cut logs!

Happy Hammering!