Problem: My condo's living room has a feature wall with a beautiful, sleek electric fireplace. Unfortunately, this fireplace featured a hideous plastic log which covered an unnecessary light beneath it. It truly was an eyesore in the room, as you can see below.
First, I researched the cost of replacing this electric fireplace with another that didn't use plastic...Unfortunately, this is a relatively small market, and all of the electric fireplaces I found were on one of two very extreme ends of the spectrum: "rural country cottage", or "souped up" to the point of tacky.
So, I took matters into my own hands and came up with this solution:
River rocks. There are no shortage of gas fireplaces featuring this natural element, but sadly the electric fireplace market sorely lacks these options.
If you want to upgrade your fireplace to an eye-catcher like this one, all you need is:
- Heavy black cardboard
- River rocks
- Gorilla glue
- About 2 hours to kill
I simply cut the cardboard to fit the area, and applied a layer of small river rocks to cover the surface of the cardboard. Use plenty of glue, but make sure you wipe up as much excess glue as possible as it dries white. I waited 1 hour for the first layer to dry before applying a second layer to cover any sparse patches.
After another hour, I fitted back into the fireplace and voila! A new fireplace for the cost of about 3 Starbucks drinks...if you order them with sugar-free vanilla syrup like I do.
After another hour, I fitted back into the fireplace and voila! A new fireplace for the cost of about 3 Starbucks drinks...if you order them with sugar-free vanilla syrup like I do.