A “Cold and Gray” Living Room Transforms with the Coolest DIY Fireplace
If you don’t have a fireplace in your living room or bedroom, you can always make one — whether that’s an operational one or a purely decorative one. Here are nine DIY fireplace ideas to inspire you — plus a 10th one from stylist and interior decorator Chad Burton (@chadburton.studio).
When Chad and his husband, Burger, first moved into their condo, in the living room there was a small patch of wall between two rectangular thresholds that connected to the kitchen and hallway. “I knew right away I wanted to arch the two entranceways into the living room and make them [an] equal size,” Chad says.
He painted the walls a brownish red (Benjamin Moore’s Coral Bells), and then he turned his attention to the perfect fireplace.
It all started with a $50 Facebook Marketplace mantel.
Chad found a brown mantel on Facebook Marketplace that fit perfectly between the two archways. He enlisted a courier to deliver it and some friends to help carry it and put it in place because it was so heavy.
“I was hunting for an iron insert for over a year,” he says. “In the meantime I had a plywood arch cut in the center.” The plywood arch always felt temporary, though, he says.
The tiles in the fireplace are handmade.
Because he had been taking ceramics classes, he eventually decided to try to make a ceramic tile center. “I was inspired by bas relief tiles seen on other fireplaces and furniture, and decided to create some sculpted memories and figures that were meaningful to me and my husband,” he says. (See: astrological signs, symbols, and more.)
“My previous ceramic projects were larger singular pieces,” Chad says. “This was the first time to carve small detailed elements, and I really enjoyed it.” Chad glazed the tiles and did a preliminary bisque fire, and then his ceramics instructor, Julie Moon, fired them again.
The tiles are technically temporary, too.
One of the hardest parts of the project was planning the measurement and accounting for shrinkage in the kiln. Chad sourced additional black and white square tile to go around the edge to make up for the shrinkage.
He also wanted to be able to take the tiles with him if he and his husband choose to move. Chad mounted and grouted the tiles on a piece of plywood to place against the wall. “I attached this to the wall with heavy-duty Velcro, so if we ever sell the place we can keep the tiles and leave the marble fireplace and plywood arch I had for a year,” he explains. He added brass tile edging from The Home Depot around the project.
“At the moment I don’t have any regrets!” Chad says. “Some of the tiles were fired at different temperatures so the glaze on each doesn’t perfectly match — some black is more shiny than others — but I like the handmade nature rather than being perfect.”
Inspired? Submit your own project here.