Chestnuts Roasting.....But Not On This Fire

I had purchased some time ago a fireplace for the dollhouse.  My only criteria was that it was cheap.  Unfortunately cheap usually means ugly which then usually means that I will have to work on it to make it pretty.  Me, not leave something alone? Shocking.  

The Inspiration

• Every house needs heat and a non-ugly source of heat
• The Victoria Miniland Egg Carton Stone Tutorial

Supplies

• An ugly fireplace
• Paint
• Mod Podge or clear spray sealer
• Aleene's Tacky Glue
• Egg cartons
• A piece of wood the length and width of your fireplace stack
• Popsicle sticks
• A small bit of sponge
• Paint Brushes
• Quick Grip Glue

I had purchased this ugly puppy from my most favourite store in the whole world, The Little Dollhouse Company.  It was something around $11.  Good enough.  

I took off the front rail.  Ugly.  I then primed it and painted it in "Romance" (the white), a black back and the silver trim.

I then Mod Podged it in gloss finish, except for the black portion that I used matte finish.  Why?  Dunno.  Just liked the look of it.

The Faux Stone Begins!

I stumbled upon the Victoria Miniland Egg Carton Stone Tutorial.  Sold!  

I took a small chunk out of a sponge and went back to my 1990's crafting roots and sponge painted DecoArt "Antique White" and Martha Stewart "Lake Fog" and "Gray Wolf" on to my egg carton.  

I didn't do much ripping of the egg carton, I mostly used manicure scissors to hack at it.  I made sure to have longer strips so I could wrap some over the edges to avoid weird seams from the sides and front.

This is the rear view of the wood I used.  I used 4 popsicle sticks as the edge pieces and the cut off ends to shore the sides up.  

I base painted the wood in "Gray Wolf" because I knew that I wasn't going to do the grouting step for this project.

I applied the stones with Aleene's Tack Glue.  A bit of a puzzle with wrapping the stones over the edges and making sure everything looked uniform.  

I then coated it with 4 coats of Mod Podge.  I did extra coats because I wanted to fill in the "grout" spaces.  Between the "Gray Wolf" base and the Mod Podge I was happy.

And it actually fit when I put it in the dollhouse!  I was worried that even though I did a dry fit I would be over a hair and have to shave it.  But, for once I measured correctly.

I installed both the fireplace and stone with Quick Grip. 

The art in the first picture was taken from the mini decks of scrapbook paper.  I used matchsticks and popsicle sticks as frames and the clear plastic from everyday packaging as "glass."  I even miter cut the frames.