Props fireplace

i'm continuing to work through my massive to do list, and since christmas is coming, next up is a fireplace. i'm starting with a photo box using the lid only) a picture frame and a vague idea in my head of where i'm going....


i cut the frame down to make the front of the fire place. for the back i turned the lid over - it already was black inside which is a bonus since i may be able to leave that as is - then filled it in with a piece of packing foam. this is the same foam i used for my couch ages ago. i still have a bunch of it left over. it wasn't quite deep enough so i put scrap pieces foam board on the back. i could have put the foam core on top but it wasn't cutting as smoothly on the edges.

 

i've always wanted to try doing egg carton bricks and this seemed to be the perfect place for them. unfortunately my first calculations were off and the 1/2" x 1" bricks i cut were just slightly too small. i ended up with either too much gapping or uneven rows and and asymmetrical pattern. so i recut them all at 1-1/8" X 5/16". that worked out perfectly and i got hem all cut out and glued down. however cutting two sets of bricks took all my time, and i'm out at drs again tomorrow so this gets put on hold till wednesday most likely.

 

@elfstone your fireplace is one of the ones i have saved in my inspiration file! i love your grate, and the hearth rug you made. (both are on my "to do" list as well) i eventually want to make a more formal fireplace for some of the other sets. this one is for the casual rooms.

@ flicker tea lights sounds like a good idea. i have an led fire set up from evans that i plan to put in the fireplace with some logs cut from deadwood in our garden when i'm done. i'll cut a hole in the back to thread the wires through and the battery pack will be on the outside with a switch.

the rock front is painted and drying so i can varnish it. it may take quite a while to dry since my first try ended up looking way too colorful and didn't go with whitewashed wood of the picture frame. i covered over all each brick with a combo of blue-gray and white so only hints of the colors show through and i like the effect much better. i didn't have time to take a picture of the first try since i had to keep working while the paint was wet so all the colors would blend.

note to self, next time paint the rock before cutting it out. it would be much easier to get the variability in each rock!

 

i actually started off with much redder bricks they had a lot more terra cotta with small hints of yellow, and peach as well as the blues/grays. the coloring looked really nice, but it looked awful with the whitewashed wood that is going around the fire box, so i had to tone it down.

that's too bad. was the fimo salvageable or do you have to start from scratch? birch logs will look pretty. i may look for some in the spring when we go off roading as there are a lot of birch trees where we go. that would look better with this particular fireplace than the dark wood i have in my garden

brave or foolhardy? i'm always willing to jump in a try something the first time. if it really hadn't worked i have several pieces of brick or stone patterned landscape quilting fabric in my stash and would have just ripped the bricks off and subbed one of those instead.

as far as the dark wash, oddly enough i already did. the brick is a little grayer in real life and the reason it is taking so long to dry is because of the heavy gray/white wash i used to cover the multicolors with. i think this goes really well with my surround. after it dries i can take pictures of it together again.

 

i have been varnishing the fireplace and gluing the sides flat whenever i got a moment this week, not really something that showed up in pictures. now i finally got to apply the grout and find out if all those coats of varnish sealed my tiles/bricks well enough. in a couple of hours the grout will be dry enough to try and wash the haze off. if not i guess my tiles just got more subdued, which isn't a bad look really... and i just added grouting to my list of new things i've tried!

i like how much more finished the brick look now. i think if i was doing this again i would try to leave a bit more spacing between all the bricks to allow for the grouting. my bottom ones fit together a bit too closely.

edit: i went back to wipe off the haze and found i actually liked it better with some of the haze there. so ended up reapply a bit of the grout and wiping it off again to get the white back in the hollows. it has to dry overnight and then i'll revarnish with my blend of matte and satin varnish to give a very subtle sheen.

 

while i'm waiting its time to start painting the hearth and mantel. for the hearth i wanted a stone look that coordinated with but didn't match the stone in the fireplace, so i gathered up most of the same colors and added them to a paint palette made of a saran covered paper plate. i'll be applying them with a cheap kitchen sponge to a piece of white painted mdf board. looks a right mess at this point, but it does get better



and.. the painted hearth and mantel.

i kept dipping the sponge in the paint and applying till i got the look i wanted. i've done marbling on full sized walls before so this time i had an idea of what i wanted to do ) when it dries i'll paint it with a blend of matte and satin varnish to get a really subtle sheen since the satin is too shiny and the matte too dull.

it's hard to see on the mantel but i painted it with white chalk paint and then when it was dry sanded it smooth and it matches the wood front almost perfectly :yay! i'll be coating that with my ulta matte varnish to keep the worn look.

 

getting closer, the front and mantel are now attached. but it is just resting on the hearth until i get the fire installed.

i'm really happy with how it is turning out, though i realized as i looked at it that i ended up making a fireplace that looks more well suited for a beach cottage, than the ancient english style manor that my crew is supposed to inhabit. lol oh well, i guess i'll just have to make another one later on..

and a better view of the distressed finish of the wood on the mantel and the side. i really like how that turned out, especially considering the side is just the painted cardboard box!

the mantel is a flat piece of wood with a square dowel glued to the front to form the overhang.

 

i want i light saber! we just saw star wars last night and they made cutting wood look so easy. this took far too long, i broke my pull saw and froze my fingers cutting these tiny things . then of course i forgot to take out a tape measure and had to guess on the size.. i like the look of the bigger logs better, but they ended up being too big. the smaller logs are just perfect. so i'll be using them. i'll save the bigger logs for another fireplace that i plan to do later.

i want my logs to look like they have really burnt so i am charring them in the flame of a candle. notice that i hold them with metal tongs and burn them in my kitchen sink just in case they decide to burn more than i planned! not likely since this wood is green and fairly wet from all the snow, but you never know...

here's what one of the logs look like done.

and the pile of finished logs. i wet them down thoroughly to make sure there were no sparks since the glue i'm using is flammable. so now i have to wait for them to dry before i can proceed.

 

my dh is building me a grate for my fireplace out of 2-1/2" finishing nails. he still has to add the top rack. he designed it and did all the bending and cutting with his much stronger hands

and with the cross pieces added. just waiting for the glue to harden so i can paint it black

 

thanks. my husband isn't into dolls at all, but he is great at helping me figure out the odd bits of props when i get stuck

the grate painted black looks like a well used cast iron grate.

thread fire led lights through logs.
btw i ended up painted the lags with my ultra matte varnish because the ash kept getting all over my hands at this step Lol

put crumpled cellophane over the lights. this was included in the kit and just needed to be cut. i'd have preferred something more orange but couldn't find any.

 

punch holes for wires in back wall, i couldn't find my awl so i used a large yarn needle and put in three small holes instead of one larger one. it really didn't matter in the end.
l
back view of wires threaded through
Back view
attach wires red to red, black to black

tape everything down. the little white thing is an on off switch so the lights don't go continuously.

 

finished!


i took a video of the fireplace with the lights flickering and it looks awesome. but apparently i can't upload video to flickr, so i'll have to figure out another place to upload it and then add it in. any suggestions?

 

thank you. they do seem to like it. i still need to make a room box one of these days, but it is easy to put in my temporary sets, and makes winter scenes so much cozier