When it comes to a Feature Fireplace Creation, anyone can have one, and everyone should want one. There are fireplaces for every situation. Whether you have a chimney or not, a condo or a house, big or small, you can have a Cozy Fireplace Creation of your very own.

If you already have a fireplace, your off to a good start. You may want to freshen up the surround and mantel. Doing so, you can give that older fireplace a totally new look. Endless styles of all shapes and sizes are at your disposal leaving it up to your imagination and what inspires you.

Types of Fireplaces

Wood burning fireplaces are great but require maintaining the fire while it’s burning and are usually original to the house, chimney and all. They require the most maintenance all around. They can be converted to gas, either propane or natural gas.

Gas logs and inserts are available when converting your wood fireplace. As mentioned before, you can operate them with propane or natural gas. Propane requires you to have a propane tank on your property while natural gas is piped in, (if available in your area), and is the cleanest burning.

Our Feature Fireplace Creation

Location

So, we came up with the idea of removing the firebox from the cabinet and creating a Cozy Fireplace. And, this space was the perfect location for it without disrupting the rooms flow. The cost was minimal since we already had a firebox.

The Design

So, we have this space, as mentioned above, with the stairs to the left and the hallway wall to the right. The hallway wall sticks out further than the stairs. It was calling for an angled fire place.

It would close the gap from the stairs to the hallway wall giving a nice flow to the room. We removed the firebox from it’s cabinet and placed it on the floor, in the proposed location, to visualize how it was going to look.

We discussed several design ideas.

• 1) Having a mantel height corner unit leaving the upper half with a corner.
• 2) Having a mantel height fireplace with an angled upper wall behind the mantel, giving it a tiered appearance.
• 3) A floor to ceiling wall with the firebox inserted and a mantel above projecting from the wall.

#3 This is what we ultimately went with as you will see. Above the mantel, the TV will be wall mounted on the wall . We then decided that the new wall would come out from the stairwell wall to the outside edge of the steps and then over to the corner of the hallway wall.

The Cozy Fireplace Build

Framing

First thing first. We now have a design so we want to create the footprint by measuring and cutting our 2x4s for the base and attach them to the floor. This will give us our footprint The next step is to go up the walls at both ends of our base with 2x4s leaving just enough room for your header. Our header will be exactly as the base, but attached to the ceiling. Our wall is now outlined with a frame.

We have a corner so we are going to have to create it with 2×4 corner studs. The next step is to measure, center and mark where the firebox is to be located on the wall. Then we are going to put up the 2×4 studs on either side of the firebox location.

Then install the required amount of studs to complete the basic framing of the wall. The number of studs is going to depend on the size of your wall. They are usually 16 inches on center apart.

Another part of our framing is for the firebox to mount and support it. We are going to use 2x10s below and above the future location of the firebox. We are also going to install 2x10s to mount the TV onto providing a sturdy foundation to hang any TV without worrying about the weight.

Drywall

Also known as sheet rock, wallboard, plasterboard and various other names. We are going to call it drywall. You have the choice of several different thicknesses. There is 1/4, 3/8, 1/2inch and 5/8. We went with 3/8 which was prefect for this project.

Now with the drywall done, we can install the fire box. Make sure that it is securely attached, The vision of what’s to come takes shape at this point. It’s going to be fantastic!

The Cozy Fireplace Hearth

Back to framing. We used 2×10 to frame in the hearth. The wood size in this case just depends on the desired height of the hearth. Front to back support studs add to the overall sturdiness of the hearth frame.

We chose to angle the ends to eliminate any sharp corners and not stick out in front of the stairs. It is also more visually pleasing. The only thing left to do structurally is to cover it. We used OSB (oriented strand board) engineered wood.

The Mantel

A fireplace is not complete without a mantel. Where would you hang the stockings during the holidays or display those pictures and nick-nacks? The mantel is like the crown of the fireplace. It can be created in what ever depth you like. Now we can move on to aesthetics with our wood work and trims.

After the mantel was completed, so we thought, we decided to give it a little more detail, grandeur, if you will. We accomplished this by layering trim giving it a tapered, sculpted appearance. The results are incredible.

Something that I found interesting about the mantel is the spelling of the word. Some people might ask is it spelled mantel or mantle. You would probably get a different answer with each person you asked. Either one is acceptable but the true correct spelling, I found out , is mantel. check out the history here: Merriam-Webster

Surprise Pantry

During the construction of our cozy fireplace we thought about the space that would be behind this new wall. We then thought oh, the internet modem and WIFI router can be in there out of sight. Great! But how do we access this space to hook up the firebox and maintain the internet?

We discussed having the decorative wood trim panels on either side of the fireplace be access doors to reach in. Then, one thought led to another and we said, what if we open the wall in the hallway and put an actual door? We took measurements and came to the conclusion that we could have a 24inch door. Brilliant!

We had no idea what was in the wall (support studs or electrical wiring) so care needed to be taken when cutting the wall open. There were a couple of studs in the middle so we framed in the door with new studs for support and removed the ones in our way. A door is born!

Looking at the space behind the new fireplace told us that it could and would be more than just an access point, but could also be used, with shelving, as an appliance pantry. This was a huge bonus to the whole project, especially when the hallway is right off the kitchen!

Final Finishes and Trimming

We surrounded the firebox with 1×6 wood on the sides and added 1×2 wood on the edges for a layered look. Above the firebox is a 1×8 header in-between the corbels and a Dentil–Crown Molding with to top it off. Absolutely beautiful!

For the upper half of our fireplace, surrounding where the TV goes, we did the same wood treatment as the lower half up the sides to the ceiling capped by a simple 1×2 running along the ceiling. Then we decided to fill in teh middle edges with brick to go just behind the TV.

The mounting brackets for the Tv were mounted and the wholes were made in the wall for the TV and sound bar wiring to go thru the wall. You might be wondering where those wires are going. We’ll get to that in a minute.

Now, for the hearth, we decided to cover it with the brick. The brick that we are using for this project is a sliced brick. Real brick that’s sliced thin for surface wall applications where a full brick would be too much. They even have edge, thin sliced brick that looks like a full solid brick, All the brick needs to be mortared and allowed to dry thoroughly.

All the wood work should be primed and allowed to dry before the final trim paint is applied. And, we get to mount and hook up the TV. And we are done!

The Feature Fire Place Creation

We hope that you were inspired by this project and that you imagination went into overdrive. We couldn’t be more thrilled with how this fireplace turned out. What an addition to the living space truly making it warm and cozy. All done DIY.

Make sure that you stay in touch and watch for the next project. We also have incredible products, benefits and opportunities available right here in this online community for you.