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Not everyone in the house and, especially, in the apartment has a fireplace. And sometimes you want to create a festive mood (so that there is somewhere to put gifts) or you just want to make the room more comfortable and intimate. In this case, you can create a simulation. The easiest option is a cardboard fireplace. Usually they use packing boxes from under large equipment.
Cardboard false fireplace: models
A false cardboard fireplace, like a real one, can be wall-mounted and corner. In both versions, the portal can be straight or arched. As you like. If we talk about the practical side of things, a straight line is easier to do, it is easier to finish. Even a beginner will cope.
A wall-mounted fireplace is great if there is a decent amount of free space on the wall. It looks great in the wall between the windows. If the walls are all occupied, but there are corners, you can build a corner model.
What materials are needed
The best material is cardboard boxes. Making a fireplace out of cardboard is easiest if there is a box from under a large monitor or TV. All you need is to cut out the portal and glue the side walls.
A little more work will be if there are only small boxes like shoe boxes. But from them you can assemble a more interesting model in shape.
You will also need:
- scissors;
- stationery knife;
- PVA glue;
- paper (painting) adhesive tape.
That’s pretty much all you need to make a fake fireplace out of cardboard.
These are all the materials and tools that will be required. Of the entire list, questions can only arise regarding adhesive tape. Why paper? It is good for any finish. Including coloring. So the option is universal. If you are not going to paint the fireplace, you can use ordinary adhesive tape.
You will also need finishing material, but we will talk about this later, since a lot depends on the method of finishing.
Assembly Options
If there is a big box
From a large cardboard box you get a fireplace with a rectangular portal. Decide on the size yourself, but the optimal height is about 80-90 cm, the width is about the same, the depth is 6-15 cm. But there are models that are wider, and narrower, and higher, and lower. Everything to your taste. For example, a drawing of a cardboard fake fireplace with dimensions.
We start collecting an imitation of a cardboard fireplace from the central part. First we form the columns. Cutting rectangles to size is not a problem. The problem is to make even folds in the right places. We take a large ruler or a flat bar and a solid object with a rounded end. Suitable, for example, a ballpoint pen, you can take a spoon or fork and use a pen. The idea is as follows – along the line where the fold should be, we apply a ruler / bar, draw the back of a ballpoint pen or cutlery handle along the bar, pushing through the cardboard. But be careful not to tear. On the applied line, the sheet is easily bent.
Glue or paint the central part immediately. Then it will be too uncomfortable. Can be painted black as pictured. Another option is to imitate brickwork. It also looks good.
It is convenient to glue the parts together with adhesive tape (the type of adhesive tape has already been discussed). We glue each connection on both sides. We do not regret Scotch. This cardboard fireplace was painted, so the columns were pasted over with white thick paper. You can use a primer and paint over it.
We fold the shelf above the fireplace from several pieces of cardboard using the same technology. If you plan to put something, it is advisable to make stiffeners – several partitions. If the whole structure turned out to be strong and stable, you can make a shelf from a piece of plywood, for example.
If the cardboard is thin, you can use polystyrene/styrofoam. It is sold in hardware stores. You can take the plates that go to finish the ceiling. They have processed edges, a pattern is applied to the front surface. All in all, it might be interesting.
Next up is finishing. In this embodiment, “bricks” were cut from paper of a suitable color. They designed the portal opening. Here you will need PVA glue. Do not forget to leave seams between the “bricks”. In the presented model, they are painted with the base color, but you can make them, for example, black, white.
The rest of the false fireplace surface is painted, and foam (polystyrene) moldings are glued on top.
Moldings can be glued before painting. You need to cut them with a sharp clerical knife. Then the cut will be straight. Glued on PVA or special glue. Wipe off the residue immediately, otherwise the paint will lie unevenly.
The same design can be pasted over with wallpaper “under the brick” or wild stone. Self-adhesive film is also suitable. But you need to work with it carefully – it will not work to peel off.
If the boxes are small
Small cardboard boxes are no more difficult to work with. They can be the same or different sizes, thicknesses and widths. Based on the existing set, the structure is assembled.
There are two ways:
- Seal the opening part of the boxes with tape, then glue them together. Glue can be used PVA. Press the boxes to be glued together well, leave for 8-12 hours for the glue to dry.
- Cut off the opening part, and glue them together with pieces of adhesive tape.
Glue the boxes with tape from the back
The second option takes less time, but the design is unreliable. With large dimensions, it can sag, bend.
To give the fireplace from cardboard boxes a presentable look, paint it “under the brick”. To do this, cover the surface with thick grayish-brown paper. This color will be the background.
For painting, you need reddish-brown paint and a large foam sponge. It can be cut to the size of a brick – 250 * 65 mm. Pour the paint into a flat dish, dip a sponge into it, applying it to the paper and pressing it lightly, draw the bricks.
When working, it is necessary to ensure that the “seams” between the “bricks” are of the same width. This is not an easy task – a little distraction, and the size is not the same. You can do it easier – cut the masking tape into narrow strips, stick it on, draw “bricks”. Remove the tape after the paint has dried.
The upper part had to be reduced, as our fireplace turned out to be too shaky. It is better to use whole boxes.
Fireplace with a round portal
Its assembly is more laborious: you will have to glue the vault well. This fireplace required 4 large boxes (like from a TV).
The base was glued separately. Stiffeners were glued on the inside of polystyrene. The weight turned out to be solid and the base sagged without amplification. The strips were installed after about 5 cm. They were glued on masking tape, then the base was glued on all sides.
Then they cut out the front part and designed the back wall. It is better to decorate it immediately, until it is glued together. We transfer an arched cutout to a sheet of cardboard. We cut out “bricks” from cardboard and glue them so that the edges do not go beyond the “arch”. When the glue dries, we collect the main part of the portal. We also install several stiffening ribs in the portal – at a high height, the cardboard can “play”, and this way everything turns out firmly and rigidly.
The next step is to make the cover. It is multi-layered – cardboard, polystyrene foam, cardboard. Everything is smeared with glue, a load is installed. When the glue was dry (after 14 hours), the lid was fixed to the structure with adhesive tape. Next up is finishing work.
To even out the bumps from the adhesive tape, we paste over all surfaces with thick white paper. You can take sheets of A4 format, you can take a larger size.
Next, you need a roll of paper towels and PVA glue. We dilute it 1: 1 with water, pour it into a spray bottle. Wet the paper towel, lay it down, squeezing a little. Wet thin paper itself gives a relief, we only correct it a little, achieving a better effect. In a similar way, we process all surfaces, excluding the “bricks”. We are waiting for it to dry.
We take the paint of red-brown color and ivory color (in this case). Brown paint the “bricks”, light – the rest of the surface. The cardboard fireplace is almost ready. There are finishing touches left.
After drying, we go through everything with a brush slightly dipped in gold paint. We dip the brush, wring out, once again remove the remnants of paint on a sheet of paper. With a semi-dry brush, we pass the “seams” between the bricks, slightly touching the “bricks” themselves. Further, in the same technique, we emphasize the texture of the surface. It is important not to apply too much paint. That’s it. The cardboard fireplace is ready.
Ideas for decorating a cardboard fireplace in photo format
You can make an imitation of a fireplace from cardboard of any shape. Several ideas are collected in this section. You already know the assembly principles, you can come up with decor yourself or use ideas from a photo.