From childhood, after books about knights or Sherlock Holmes, the concept of āfireplaceā for us has become synonymous with comfort and warmth. For those who live in their home, if there is money and free space, itās easy to call a brigade, choose a suitable fireplace and soon enjoy a living flame. But in high-rise buildings (and private houses, you know, are also different, in some you canāt even put an extra stool) you canāt fit the necessary pipe, and you wonāt especially allocate a place for a fireplace. So to satisfy your craving for romance and the desire for comfort, it remains to make a fireplace out of cardboard with your own hands.
Layout Selection
Start by deciding for yourself exactly where you would like to see your fireplace. Compared with the present, the fake has the advantage that it can be mounted anywhere and made in any shape. A fireplace made of cardboard with your own hands can even be put in a corner that there is nothing to force, but the fireplace will fit harmoniously. Next, estimate how high and wide your product will be. It should not conflict with the furniture in the room, it should not suppress it, but it should not be allowed to get lost in the background of, say, bulky cabinets.
Base selection
In principle, a fireplace made of cardboard with your own hands can be built only from this material. For the simplest, even a fairly large box of furniture or office equipment is suitable. But keep in mind that cardboard is not very durable material. If you want to get something more thorough at the exit, spend a little and order a frame from chipboard for the base of the fireplace. Calculate how many sheets you need for your size, what size they should be. In principle, this will be the only part of the process of creating your fireplace that will require outside participation. But the āstoveā will turn out more stable and strong.
Easiest option
The easiest way is to make a false fireplace out of cardboard using a packing box. To do this, all joints of the box are glued so that the lid does not open, and the walls do not fall off. The hole in your āovenā is drawn with a pencil, then cut with scissors. You can decorate the fireplace at your discretion. The fastest option is a self-adhesive film with a pattern for a brick or wild stone. If you donāt like this method, letās say you want to paint your fireplace from cardboard differently, itās better to paste the box over with white paper, and when the glue dries, apply the intended drawing. Even if you draw the same bricks, you can give them a more real look, of course, if you have a penchant for drawing.
Pasting with paper is necessary, firstly, because the packaging cardboard is usually brown, and you will not get the right color. Secondly, on the boxes there are always some inscriptions, emblems, etc. They can be seen even through several layers of paint. However, if you want, pasting can be replaced with a primer - it can be bought in stores selling goods for artists.
The inside is important too
Inside, the box would also be nice to paint or paste over, otherwise a cardboard fireplace made by oneself would not look very believable. You can hang the inner wall with a dark cloth, and put bright red at the bottom.
For better stability, put a āmantelpieceā on top of the box. For it, you can use chipboard or fiberboard, only processed or pasted with the same self-adhesive wood or marble. If at hand there is no suitable trim, you can glue several sheets of the same cardboard (for example, from another box). You will have a mantelpiece, however, it will not add stability to the structure.
Based on chipboard
If you opted for a more monumental option, you will first have to knock down the frame brought from the workshop. If there is a podium stand in your fireplace, you should start assembling the base from it. If not, first the fireplace body is knocked down, and then its pipe.
Since it is planned to build a fireplace out of cardboard with our own hands, we will not talk about the other finishing options (drywall or artificial decorative stone). For decoration, sheets of cardboard can simply be glued onto chipboard, but if it seems to you that the cardboard is thin, you can glue its sheets (cutting out parts suitable for the fireplace) and put it under the load for the night. The next morning, the fireplace itself is studded with even and thick cardboard. Then it is given the desired look (similar to how it was done with the box).
When we make a fireplace from cardboard on the basis of particleboard, we should not forget about its āinsidesā. Still, it will be illuminated from the inside, and the wooden frame will be clearly visible.
Only cardboard, but not box
If you donāt feel like bothering with plywood, and the boxed version seems too simple, there is another way to make a fireplace out of cardboard. It is also suitable if you need an āovenā of an unusual shape, for example, triangular in cross section or high, but flat.
First you need to make a "pattern". All details are calculated very scrupulously so that your decorative cardboard fireplace does not turn out to be sideways. The cardboard sticks together in several layers to become more rigid. Under the load it will lie the longer, the more sheets you have glued. Then, according to the drawings made, individual parts are cut out. You can fasten them together with tape, you can glue paper stripes. By the way, if you decide to stay on scotch tape, take paper, for pasting windows. To make the corners of the fireplace rectangular, at least for the time of assembly it is worth using corners - plastic is sold in construction stores, they are quite suitable. And ideally, inside the structure, these corners would be good to leave for good. They will not be visible, but they will definitely add strength.
Since such a fireplace is assembled from parts, the inside of it can be processed before assembly. Itās more convenient to color or paste over the cardboard when it is lying on the table or on the floor, and not when it is standing upright. And the holes in the furnace are of different sizes; if you chose a small one, you will have to show the wonders of acrobatics for the interior decoration of the assembled fireplace.
The outer side can also be finished before assembly, but in this case you may not have the same pattern when gluing the individual parts, and the gluing of the corners will be visible. So the external side will have to be painted, pasted over on the finished fireplace. Not only that, if you choose painting, first you may need to prime the surface to hide the tape.
Lighting options
Any fireplace requires a flame. It is clear that cardboard does not make it possible to use real fire. You can buy or make yourself a lamp that simulates a bonfire. As an option - draw fire on paper, cut along the contour and attach in the hearth. A dim lamp is placed behind, and a very plausible imitation of an open flame is obtained. The disadvantage of this method is that thick paper will be poorly visible through the light bulb, and thin paper will roll forward or backward. The wire frame may be the solution, however, it will need to be bent as precisely as possible along the contour, otherwise it will be clearly visible during transmission.
You can put in the hearth of an electric candle or a garland. Both that, and another it is better to buy on batteries not to make a hole in a fireplace for a cord to the socket.
With any choice of "flame" in the furnace for reliability, you need to put twigs, branches or logs.
Fireplace Care
It remains to make sure that the fireplace pleases you as long as possible. If you chose self-gluing as a finish, your āovenā will not require special care - such films are usually moisture resistant, they can be wiped with a wet rag. But if the fireplace was painted, then for the possibility of subsequent care for it will have to be varnished. Then it can be cleaned from dust or accidental pollution.
Now in the evenings you can sit in front of an almost real fireplace and feel like a medieval feudal lord.