Taking into account that even real fireplaces are rarely used for their intended purpose, it is quite logical to satisfy your desire to decorate the interior with it using a “false fireplace”. But here the question arises: will the price correspond to the result obtained? After all, a fireplace without a chimney is only slightly cheaper than a real one, and at the same time remains just a decoration. And here modern materials and technologies should come to the rescue. The following describes a method for building an inexpensive home “false fireplace” using wooden beams, drywall and artificial stone.
1. Before starting work, you need to prepare a sketch and clearly calculate the dimensions of your fireplace. It should be remembered that the entire interior of the room will be focused on the fireplace and should correspond to it so that it does not look like something superfluous. However, this is a matter of taste.In this example, the interior of the office is made in the style of a “German country house”.
2. Drywall imitates a hard surface well, but is not strong enough on its own. Therefore, the frame of the “false fireplace” must be made of durable material, and not from a profile. In this case, wooden beams with a section of 100 X 50 mm were used. This not only made the structure very rigid, but also made construction much easier due to the ease of working with wood.
3. After the frame is built, it is covered with plasterboard, which is then puttied and painted. The work is very simple and accessible to anyone, and therefore there is no need to dwell on it.
4. In order to make the “false fireplace” look realistic, it is a good idea to decorate it with decorative stone. As you can see in the photo, the stone tiles are laid in a checkerboard pattern in order to hide straight joints as much as possible.
5. It should be taken into account that it will not be possible to lay stone tiles both horizontally and vertically, so you must either choose the shape of the fireplace, where this is not necessary, or, as in this example (in the photo), simply draw stones on one of the planes. It's done like this. An uneven layer of cement (about 5 mm) is applied to the drywall and while it is still wet, the contours of the stones are cut out with a sharp object. When everything is dry, paint the surface in the selected color.
6. The fireplace is almost ready, but you definitely need to make a shelf above the fireplace. It will decorate the fireplace and make it more practical. There are a lot of ways to make it, after all, it's just a shelf. In this example, the shelf is made of a sheet of plywood and wooden corners, which can be bought cheaply at any hardware store. The structure is fastened with PVA glue.
7.To bring the practicality of the “false fireplace” closer to its prototype, it is appropriate to use an electric fireplace in it. This way the fireplace will not only look better, but also delight you with real warmth and the sight of smoldering firewood.
