DIY Fireplace Built-Ins

When we started building our home, the first thing that I knew I wanted was a fireplace, and of course to go along with a beautiful fireplace I wanted some built-ins. I contemplated for a LONG time whether or not I should build them, because lets face it I knew this project would be HUGE and I didn’t want to mess it up. Well, after getting a couple bids close to $3,000 I knew I just had to do it myself. I looked and looked to find some sort of tutorial, but I couldn’t find exactly what I needed so I pretty much just made it up with the stuff I already knew from building my bench and bookshelves in my first home (I will post about that soon ;)). So I measured and went to Lowes to get my materials. After I got everything home, it actually took me a couple of days, ok a week, to actually start them.

Here are the materials you will need:

3/4″ MDF or Plywood (if you are planning to stain yours) sheets (I have Lowes cut them to size for me)

2×4’s

3″ and 1 1/2″ wood screws (I LOVE to get the self drilling kind, because you don’t have to pre-drill the holes)

1″ thick paint grade poplar (for the face frame)

Wood Glue

First thing I did was prep my space so that I could get the correct measurements. This meant, taking off the baseboards and pulling back the carpet so that I had a flat hard surface to work with. I knew I wanted my built-ins to be flush with my baseboards, so I drew a straight line 4 3/4″ up my wall so that when I attached the frame to the studs and set my cabinet boxes on top the bottom of the cabinet would be flush at 5 1/2″.

Once that was done, I built my 2×4 frame. One word of advice: measure, measure, measure!!! AND don’t be surprised if your walls are crooked (like mine were). The back of my wall was 1/2″ shorter than the front on one side, and 3/4″ longer than the front on the other side. I built the 2×4 frame to size with the 3″ wood screws and then screwed it into the studs. As you can see it isn’t touching the ground but that is ok, this thing is sturdy! Just make sure you use an actual stud finder to make sure you are drilling into the studs!

Once that was done, I started on my cabinet boxes, I made mine out of MDF because it is a smooth surface to paint. If you are planning on staining yours, you will want to use plywood. I don’t have a picture of this process, but I took my MDF material, and used the 1 1/2″ wood screws and put them together. I screwed the bottom to the sides first then screwed on the shelf with the same screws. In order to make sure I was actually screwing the sides onto the middle of the shelf, mark where the shelf is and then on the side of the cabinet make the same length to make sure you will hit the shelf with the screw (very hard to explain, see the pic ;)). The holes in the pic line up to the middle of the side of the shelf that you are screwing into. Note: you are not adding a top, or a back with MDF. We will add a top after the fact, and the wall will suffice as a back. That way, you don’t have to cut holes, for your plugs etc.

Then once the cabinets are built it is time to put them on our sturdy 2×4 bases! This process was not the most fun for me. This is where I found out how terribly crooked my walls were. It would be much smarter to leave yourself a 1/2″-1″ on your built-ins, as you will be covering the gaps anyways with a frame. Unfortunately this was not what I did, but hey you can learn from my mistake ;). If you DO build them fit your space and run into crooked walls you can always do what I did: remove some drywall ha! Don’t worry if you have to do that, it will be covered up by the frame. My space was big, so I had to build 2 cabinets on each side, so 4 all together.

After I took a breath, putting those things on the 2×4 frame was not an easy task, I built the face frame. I used 1/2″ thick poplar but I should have used 1″ thick, I found that out when I started to attach the doors. Its ok though, I figured out a makeshift piece that will work. Just learn from my mistake and use 1″ thick ;)! I started by adding the top piece first, then the vertical boards and then did the bottom fronts.

Next up add the baseboard to the front, and then is time to fill in the nail holes with spackle (wood filler if you are staining) and then paint/stain! Here is mine all finished with the top, a few touch-ups still need to be made but its almost completed! I am working on the doors and will get those up soon and a tutorial for how I did my tops! Happy building!