Decorative fireplace by yourself: step by step instructions

Fireplaces have long been used as a source of heat in a human dwelling. Fireplaces were widely spread in Western Europe, from where the fashion for them came to Russia in the 18th century. But the fireplace is not only a source of heat in the house, but also an elegant element of decorative decoration of the premises, giving them a special comfort, a luxury and relaxation. The charm of a living fire, which you never get tired of watching, creates an incomparable microclimate in the room. Thanks to such properties of fireplaces now in the city apartments with central heating the decorative fireplaces, which are not the main source of heat, but become a function of the decoration element of the room, become more widespread.

Such fireplaces can be purchased in finished form. They are in great variety represented in the modern trading network. And you can buy a purely interior fireplace, serving only for decorating the room, a fireplace with fire simulation and a fireplace with a partial heating function, for example, based on an electric heater.

Decorative fireplaces with own hands

Prices of fireplaces on the market are in a very wide range of values - from several thousand to several hundred thousand rubles. And the lion's share of the cost of such products falls on their finish. Therefore, for many, the question of how to make a fireplace in your own apartment is decorative with your own hands.
As practice shows, this task is by no means as complex as it may seem at first glance. After all, we are talking about the element of decoration, and not the erection of a full-function facility for heating the room, which requires the fulfillment of fire safety conditions, the presence of a chimney,
In this article, we'll look at how to make a decorative fireplace with your own hands. The step-by-step instruction given in the article will help you in the shortest time, without wasting your precious time for unnecessary actions, perform this work and realize your ideas for improving the interior of your apartment.

Select a project

At this step, you need to solve two problems. The first (depending on the purpose of installing the fireplace) - what materials to use in the manufacture. The second is where to place the fireplace and how to fit it into the interior of the room.
About the materials. If the fireplace is purely decorative, then during its manufacture, you can use any materials that are available to you - from polystyrene, wood and polystyrene to metal, ceramics and natural stone. If you plan to install heating appliances in the fireplace, then the materials for making the fireplace must be non-combustible - brick, metal, stone, and for finishing you can use ceramic tiles, tiles, natural stone, marble, metal. As an example, let's see how to make a decorative fireplace in the apartment with your own hands. Take the fireplace of an interior type.

Where to place a fireplace?

It can be placed anywhere in the rooms of your home or in the kitchen. The main task of such a fireplace is to decorate the interior, make the dwelling more attractive and convenient, to arrange a place for rest. Therefore, it must be arranged accordingly. You can make a corner decorative fireplace with your own hands. In many cases this is appropriate, since this option takes up less space in the room. But many people prefer to make a fireplace in the wall or near it. This allows you to have a more spacious rest area, in which the fireplace usually occupies a central place.
The next stage is the construction of the drawings of the fireplace, and what is desirable is its miniature copy in order to imagine to your other household members how it will look in the interior of your house. This will help you better navigate with the dimensions of the fireplace and fit it into the existing or projected interior of the apartment. But it is worth remembering that since you decided to make a decorative fireplace with your own hands, then the choice of the variant of its manufacturing (as well as finishing) remains entirely for you. It should be based primarily on your desires, ideas of beauty and convenience, on the availability of available interior details, so that the fireplace with them is in harmony. Not the least role is played by the amount of money that you can and want to spend on finishing the fireplace.

Fireplace from cardboard

Perhaps the most economical version of how to build a decorative fireplace with your own hands is presented in several figures above. Simulation of the fireplace is a construction of two, square cross-section of pillars made of ordinary, but rather strong cardboard, the base and the mantel shelf, made of solid wood or multilayer plywood. Dimensions of the fireplace and its details you choose, based on your preferences and harmonious combination with other details of your interior. Racks are glued and painted under brickwork. You can paste the racks of wallpaper with a picture of brickwork. Fastening of the pillars to the base and the mantel shelf is carried out with glue and metal corner elements using self-tapping screws in such a place that these fasteners can not be seen in the finished product. As self-tapes and corners fix the finished product to the wall. Inside the decorative fireplace, paste a black paper with a picture of fire. Several piles of firewood are laid out on the podium in front of the fire pattern. Decorative fireplace is ready!

Fireplace from plasterboard

Another way is to use drywall. It is also easy to work with, but it allows you to build a product of almost any shape and with a variety of finishes. At the same time, in comparison with what has already been considered, a much more durable decorative fireplace with its own hands is obtained. The step-by-step instruction includes the following steps:

1. Mounting the frame.

2. Gypsum board lining.

3. Finishing.

Mounting the frame

The frame of the product is made of wooden bars or, more practical, from special profiles - guide rails or rack-mounted PS designed to work with plasterboard.
Profiles are cut to size according to the designed sketch of the fireplace. First, the vertical profiles of the PS, connected at the top and at the bottom by PN profiles with the help of self-tapping screws, are attached to the wall at the installation site of the fireplace. Then, at the joints of the profiles (perpendicular to the wall), the sections of the PN profile are fixed according to the depth of the fireplace. To the ends of the latter is fastened a prefabricated profile frame, similar to the one already attached to the wall. The skeleton of the future fireplace turned out. In the same way, the skeleton of the fireplace base is made in the same way, and inside - internal partitions modeling the external hole of the fireplace furnace with the configuration in accordance with your design. The lines of this hole can be not only straight, but also curved (for example, its upper side). This is permissible, since the gypsum plasterboard sheet can be curved during installation, if it is slightly wet before fastening to the frame.

Warnings

Carefully follow the construction of the frame for a clear correspondence of horizontal and vertical lines on the level. It is also necessary to control the precise correspondence of the dimensions of the structure, since the final appearance of the product depends on this. When making the frame, its dimensions should be selected taking into account the thickness of gypsum boards and finishing materials, which will be used in the next stages of work. Qualitatively make a fireplace decorative with their own hands can only be with the exact performance of works in the first stage.

Gypsum boardboarding

Since you have firmly decided to make a decorative fireplace with your own hands, the second stage is to cut the gypsum plasterboard according to the dimensions of the frame parts. At the same time, first cut the parts that cover the side and inner parts of the frame, and fix them with screws to the frame. Cutting the sheet is done on a metal ruler with a sharp knife for wallpaper. Then cut the details that cover the front of the fireplace, taking into account the already mounted side and interior parts of the shell. These parts are also fixed with screws to the frame. If the construction of the fireplace is simple and it is not supposed to use heavy materials in the finish, then they are lined in one layer of plasterboard. Otherwise, sheathing is used in two layers. Cutting out the details of the second layer is done after the first layer is realized, taking into account its thickness.
The base of the fireplace should be made of more durable material (bricks, stone, etc.) in order to avoid possible damage.
The details of the skin are carefully ground, dried and plastered. It is usually necessary to re-perform these operations to achieve an ideal surface quality. After that, the surface of the product is sanded with sandpaper.

Separately, a fireplace mantel of the required configuration is made. To do this, use an array of wood, chipboard, a finished table top made of wood or other material. The surface of the shelf is also prepared for finishing in accordance with the material from which it is made.

Finish

As already noted above, the decoration of the decorative fireplace can be performed in thousands of different options, it all depends on your capabilities, desires and preferences. Simple, not very expensive and advantageous in appearance, there is a variant of finishing with polyurethane parts, currently available in a wide variety on the market. This material is durable, easy to install, looks great in the finished product. You can decorate the fireplace with ceramic tiles, natural stone tiles, etc.
In any case, the material of the external cladding (and what to strengthen) is selected according to your design.
Thus, the article describes step by step how to make decorative fireplaces with your own hands.