Faux Wood Burning Fire Place

*Don’t miss out on an amazing sweepstakes worth $15k from Zillow and Shutterfly at the bottom of my post.

Faux.  Not everyone knows how to pronounce that word.  I was on the phone with a friend of mine years ago and we were talking about “Faux Wood Blinds”.  She pronounced the x at the end and I was cracking up.  She asked what was so funny.  I explained and I don’t think she believed me, lol.  She was actually pretty annoyed.

Either way you want to pronounce the word, it still means FAKE.  We can definitely agree on that.

So, yah.  I made a FAKE Wood Burning Fireplace.  Or…a “Faux Wood Burning Fireplace”.  What ever you want to call it, it is fine by me.  It’s super cute don’t you think?

There she is, Miss Sylvia getting her movie star time.  I swear that cat knows that I’m taking her picture.

So anyhow…what this basically burns boils down too, is that we had a broken electric wood burning fireplace, and I didn’t want to waste it.  At first I thought candles would look pretty, but then my fireman neighbor would be yelling at me, so I opted for Christmas lights and real wood instead.

It turned out so cozy.

I can think of a million places this could be used.  Apartment, condo, dorm room, basement, bedroom, kitchen, heck even a bathroom.

Then take it a step further, and low and behold, Santa can keep warm out on your front porch!

I originally bought this to warm up our walkout basement when we made it over.

We used it a lot, so it’s no wonder it wore out.

Going down “Electric Wood Burning Fireplace” memory lane, we kept ourselves alive with it back in 2013 when we lost power on Christmas for 5 days.  Ice storm and -5 degree temps. on Christmas was pretty crappy, but we survived.

So, this is how easy this is to make…

Unscrew the black metal back and take all the guts out.  You’ll have to cut the wires with a wire cutter.  For some reason I enjoyed this?  You can also unscrew the glass and carefully discard.  I thought it was more rustic with out the glass.

Then stuff it with wood and Christmas lights.

Then screw the black back, back on, letting the chord come out the hole.

Adjust everything so the wood and lights look realistic.  I hid the chord behind the wood as best I could.

Then sit back, pour a glass of wine and enjoy your new Faux Wood Burning Fireplace.

If you enjoyed this, you will probably like my Stereo Console Makeover, too!

Before I sign off for the weekend, I wanted to share this amazing sweepstakes from Zillow & Shutterfly.  I don’t know about you, but I’m always thinking of new ways to update our home on a budget.  Unfortunately, some things cost tons of money no matter how much DIY experience you have.  For example, our front steps need some major repair, but we really don’t want to spend the money on something so boring.

So…I decided to enter this sweepstakes hoping to win.  I have nothing to lose, only 15K to gain.  So, head on over and enter.  You’ll be able play with Shutterfly and print your very own artwork for free just for entering.  Pretty cool.  Win win!

Here’s how:

*Enter the Make It Yours Sweepstakes for a chance to win the cash prize. By entering, you’ll be able to customize a 5-by-7-inch print from Zillow. Choose from several home-inspired designs and add your own personal touches. Shutterfly will print your finished artwork for free!

It’s easy to enter:

1. Visit the sweepstakes homepage before December 1, 2015 and fill out a short entry form.
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*Limit one (1) additional entry via Facebook and one (1) additional entry via Twitter.