9 Faux Fireplace Ideas That Create Cozy Vibes Out of Thin Air
With the weather getting rainier and cooler in many parts of the country, It’s finally starting to feel like fireplace season — one of my favorite parts of October through March-ish. One problem? I don’t have a fireplace.
What I currently do is turn on the yule log background on my apartment TV and light a bunch of candles (including a crackly one) to create a similar vibe, and it’s actually shockingly atmospheric. But I could take it one step further and DIY a fireplace facade, like these nine DIYers.
These nine faux fireplace ideas from Apartment Therapy’s archives give cozy fireplace vibes to renters and homeowners alike — no gas line or chimney necessary.
A Slatted Faux Fireplace Look for $700
DIYer Erika Ver (@peonyandhoney) and her dad created this fireplace that looks like it came with her home. To build it, they created a frame for an electric fireplace, installed the electric unit, then nailed on precut furring strips stained in a golden oak finish to cover the frame. My favorite part? The sconces (similar to these) that tie the whole look together.
A Renter-Friendly Fireplace Done in a Day
This DIYer, Patty Barrett, used a scalloped fireplace surround from Wayfair (that’s now sold out, but you can find a similar scallop-topped one here), an electric fireplace from Duraflame, and a patterned wallpaper backdrop to create a fireplace for what she calls “Barbie’s 19th-Century Holiday Dream House.” Read more about her project here.
A Marble Mantel That Transformed a Blank Wall
In her condo, DIYer Galina Efremova didn’t want a blank living room wall, so she used a marble mantel she salvaged from an old Brooklyn brownstone to create a fireplace feature wall. The mantel came in pieces and took two weeks to clean, plus more time spent building a framework to keep it all together. Once complete, Galina added IKEA mirrors to the inside.
A Jet-Black Fireplace for Drama
A fireplace in a bedroom is perhaps the height of coziness, and renter Kristy DeGina added some (faux) coziness — plus some high-contrast drama — to her bedroom with a dark black faux fireplace.
Kristy found a stone mantel on Facebook Marketplace, but it was a bit too short, so she used stone pavers to elevate it. Then she painted it black (Rustoleum’s Eclipse) and added black ceramic tiles behind her creation and a fireplace screen and ceramic fireballs in front of it to make it look like the real deal. No flame? No problem. It looks completely chic.
A White Focal Point Fireplace in a Pink Living Room
When pro design couple Savannah and Kaitlyn Stone of Ainslie Design Studio redid their living room, they added a fireplace by the front door. “We bought an electric fireplace and built the surround out of 2x4s and drywall,” Savannah previously told Apartment Therapy. “The mantel also took time, as it was sanded, stained, and sealed with polyurethane.”
A Faux Fireplace with an IKEA IVAR Hack
This fireplace looks like a real-deal wood burner, but it’s actually an electric fireplace with DIY additions around it to make it all look built-in. Homeowner Darya Karas found an electric fireplace on Facebook Marketplace for $500, then used two IKEA IVARS for the cabinetry on either side and added shelving and a fireplace surround to make it all look built-in.
Darya then covered her fireplace framing in cement backer board, glued on faux brick, and used a smear technique with her mortar to make it match her off-white (Sherwin-Williams’ Creamy) shelving system.
An Antique Facebook Marketplace Mantel with a New Pink Look
For her Chicago home, what she “really loved and wanted was a tall, slim fireplace with a wood-burning stove that seems to appear in the bedrooms of all the quaint English houses … on Instagram,” DIYer Ashley Poskin says.
When everything store-bought was looking a little too new for her taste, Ashley decided to upcycle an $80 antique Facebook Marketplace mantel and add a space heater she already owned (and painted bubblegum pink) to create a cozy, eclectic look.
A Renter-Friendly Architectural Statement Faux Fireplace
Of course, you don’t have to put a heater or flame underneath a fireplace facade at all to still give the architectural effect of a fireplace. Renter Shelby Vanhoy (@prettyinthepines) added two mantels — plus plenty of molding — to her blank-white-box apartment to give it some character. For the bedroom “fireplace,” she added a couple of candles underneath and also added some books. (Fireplace book storage for the win!)
A Minimalist Faux Fireplace for $500
In homeowner Suzanne Sampson’s (@sweetbungalow) living room, “there needed to be a focal point, and a fireplace was the perfect solution,” she previously told Apartment Therapy. She bought an electric fireplace insert for $350, and her dad helped her build a framework for it. Thanks to leftover tools and drywall from a different project, the project cost about $500.
Want to build a faux fireplace of your own? Check out this tutorial, and then be sure to show us your project!