Witch's Fireplace

Always adding something new to our annual Halloween decorations. This year, I made a faux fireplace as the main feature of an evolving witch's hut to be set up in our garage over the next few years.

First determine the desired dimensions of columns and firebox given materials on hand and size of electric fireplace logs unit. My columns were to be 12" square, 48" high, with a planned firebox of 26". Second, determine dimensions of base, mantle, and top. My base was planned to be approx. 1" x 18" x 53", the mantle to be approx. 5" x 12" x 53" and the top to be approx. 2" x 16" x 60". During construction, these dimensions needed to be adjusted slightly.

The two columns were 12" sq. x 48"H, constructed of 2" x 2" sticks and whiteboard material. The 3" handheld circular saw was very useful. Once screwed together, all the screwheads and corners were covered with duct tape. Two column mounts were constructed from 2" x 4" lumber to be 9" sq.

The base was constructed of scrap pallet wood, held together from the bottom with flat wood pieces screwed in place, then the top of the base fitted with 1" styrofoam. The slate stone contact paper was applied. Finally, the columns were placed on the base to determine precise positions for the column mounts, which were secured from the bottom with 2" screws and adhesive. Some scrap whiteboard material was covered with leftover slate stone contact paper and glued around the outside of the column mounts for extra rigidity to support the columns.

This was the most complicated step of the project. The idea was to make the mantle able to rest on top of the columns to ensure everything would fit together square and true, yet be easily disassembled. With the positioning of the columns on the base, the frame of the mantle was constructed using 2" x 2" sticks, 3" x 3" x 9" cross-timbers, and 1/2" x 5" x ?" pieces of old oak molding. Much consulting of the schematic drawing, some creative cutting and angling of the oak molding, and glueing/clamping of pieces in position led to the final product. There was no figuring this out ahead of time, just building as you go! The top was constructed of 2" x 2" sticks and whiteboard, so that it could mount on top of the mantle. The Vintage Wood contact paper was applied to finish it off.

A final 22" x 34" rectangular piece of the whiteboard was cut for the face of the fireplace. Measurements were taken and cuts made so that the face piece would fit between the cross-timbers of the mantle and hang from a couple nails on the backside of the mantle's front oak molding. The Brown Stone Brick contact paper was applied. Using a Rotozip spiral saw, a curved bottom of the face piece following the stone brick pattern was cut. Similar contoured cuts were made to both sides of the face piece.

Finally, the two columns could be finished by positioning the brown stone brick contact paper to align with the face piece pattern. This step takes some patience since it can be tricky to align the patterns and then stick the wallpaper precisely where you want it. I wanted to cover all four sides of each column with the contact paper so that the columns could be used as stand-alone features for future displays.

Some finishing touches to the product included: mounting some old fashioned spike nails to the mantle to hang decorations or spider web; constructing a couple witch's brooms of scrap tree branches, reeds, weeds and vines; and mounting a hook above the firebox to hang a plastic cauldron that will have dry ice added for a spooky effect.