Giving Barbie a Cozy Christmas

I've been slowly making things for the eventual doll house I want to put together for my own doll scenes. One thing I have always wanted was a fireplace. I love fireplaces! That is one of the downsides to the house we bought. It has no fireplace!! So, the dolls will have one instead. I pulled out various wood pieces that I had stocked in my crafting bin. My husband engineered them together to give me a gorgeous fireplace. 

I knew I wanted a ledge to serve as a seat. The closest we got to making it work was this. I covered this with printed out brick patterned paper. It reminded me of a fireplace we had at one of the homes my parents had bought.

After we had this built as the base, I used some Dollar Tree wood cubes on the sides to make depth. I had originally thought this would be painted to look sorta like bricks, but it came out a bit messier than I planned. These blocks are not even close to all being the same size.

So I ended up covering it with the brick paper as well. It worked out so much better this way! There also had to be a mantel on this creation. After all, where would I hang those stockings and set up decorations?

Pillars on either side were a beautiful bonus. My husband even made it realistic with a chimney piece on top. It has depth so that I can add some faux wood and maybe even an electric tealight candle. Underneath, I can store more wood pieces. 

Lastly, I painted the front piece a lighter color for contrast, the inner part is a darker color that resembles soot.

I love the end product! Now, I have the perfect place to hang stockings and decorate for the winter time.