NEW FIREPLACE

All I can say is WOW!!! Here she is and all her glory, the ValueLine 50 80031 50″ Flush Mount Electric Fireplace!! My husband and I agree this is our favorite DIY and the statement it adds to the living room is mind blowing!!!

Previously in this space before our house flooded we had a large electric fireplace but it was so big and bulky. I’ve always felt like it was a tacky piece of furniture. My favorite part about this is the look #1.. like it’s a real fireplace and #2.. it is so perfect it looks like it was built into the house! I can’t stop thinking about how I want to decorate for all of the holidays. Y’ALL I CANNOT EVEN WAIT!!! Currently we have it decorated for fall and she is gorgeous! I went with these faux floral stems from hobby lobby. I wanted just simple and clean look.

We decided to go with a full faux brick panels all the way up. I know originally we talked about doing brick on the bottom half and shiplap on the top half but I wanted a simple and clean look. I love the simple texture up the wall. I keep going back and forth whether I should paint the fireplace black or leave it white. What do you think?

So let’s go step by step to see how we created this beauty. I feel like when you do a DIY project the BEFORE photo is a must. It helps you to remember how far you have come!!! So this is where we started. Previously we had the tv hanging on the wall.. but we planned on mounting it on our “new fireplace”. So we started with a clean slate and took everything off the wall.

To build this strong sturdy frame we used 1×6 for the back pieces on the wall. We did this as filler between the 2×4 and the baseboards. Another option would be to cut your baseboards off the wall. We felt better using the 1×6 because we could put it in multiple studs making it more structurally sound. (nothing is secured to floor)

Now the fun part.. finding the perfect place for our beautiful new electric fireplace. Random fact.. we plugged it in right away because we were so excited about it. This project took us about a week (we had covid while building)… and the whole time even though the fireplace wasn’t complete we left the fireplace on because we loved it so much… and not to mention we live in Texas and its 1000 degrees!This fireplace has a built in fan you can turn it on hot or cold. MIND BLOWN! And it’s just so pretty to look at.

Now we used 2x4s to build the frame to house the fireplace insert. The fireplace came with step by step instructions on installation making installation a piece of cake.

Now for the exterior of the fireplace we used these faux brick panels from Lowes (most lumber stores sells these). We secured the panels on all the 2×4 frame pieces. We used a couple screws but mostly just used nail gun.

Once the brick panels were on we caulked all the seams and painted it the same color as our wall with Sherwin Williams- High Reflective White. But… I was thinking we should paint it black.. what do you think?

Lastly… We built a faux mantle (just like our faux beams) and we added a frame to our TV to complete the look. Actually I originally painted the frame white and then painted it black. I think the black looks better personally. I absolutely love framed TVs . Especially, in living room! It gives your boring tv character.

I am so obsessed with the with how the fireplace turned out! It is huge statement piece in the living room and it was exactly what this space needed to complete it! What do you think?

Love,

Ashton