Dining Room - Chimney Breast and fireplace

 I have made chimney breasts quite successfully with thick cardboard  but I have also bought a fabulous kit from Dollshouse Cottage Workshop so I did so again.

It comes in three simple pieces which you just glue together, making sure you have a good right angle join.

You can just paint the back wall of the room where the fireplace will go for the back of the fire box but, being fussy, I like to make a brick back.  Again this should be made 'dirty' with some smudgy black paint but I am choosing to cheat a little as my 'Georgian' style dining room is actually modern and with a real flame gas fire so I am happy to leave the bricks pristine.

The brick sheeting is a very nice one from Jennifers of Walsall

I have nipped out at the bottom so that it can sit neatly behind the hearth.  The side 'wings will be glued inside the chimney breast on the side walls so they are cut to fit.

My fireplace will have a hearth extension in front of it so I need something to level up the internal hearth area to the same height as the outer hearth extension in the room so that the fire will stand nicely with its feet on each part..

This inner hearth is just cut from a lump of good old thick cardboard, after using the chimney breast to draw round as a pattern.

This gets painted black.  I don't do jet black as it sort of 'shouts' at you, so I use a blob of green, black and white and blob them on as a mixed colour

I papered the chimney breast

The cardboard hearth is then put in place behind the front face and the brick back is glued in place.  It is glued along the back edge of the hearth (covering it) and glued in each side of the chimney breast.

This brick panel back will eventually be glued on to the back wall of the box

This is the finished front view.  I have made a hole in the centre of the back piece and at the right height to accept the wires from the fire and pass them out through the hole which has already been drilled in the back of the box.

This photo shows how I line it up with the back wall and get it centered.  I push a toothpick through the hole in the back wall and jiggle the chimney breast in place until the hole in the back of that lines up.  Obviously I need the walls papered before the final fit.

I cut and glue in the coving pieces either side on the back wall.

I then cut and dry fit the pieces that will wrap round the chimney breast.  the 2 cm pieces for the sides can be fiddly but I was lucky this time and all went right first time on everything.

I then take away the pieces and construct the wraparound piece.  I did the usual paint touch up after this photo was taken and it looks perfect..

The breast is lined up as I showed above using a toothpick to locate its position and checking the side measurement quickly before the glue takes.  Again, this should just be easy and spot on. The wraparound piece is glued in place and all joins touched up with paint.

To finish off the hearth the wire is threaded through the bottom of the grate and the coals settled in place.  They can be held with tacky wax if you want to but I suggest you don't glue in place in case you ever need to change the bulb/

The hearth extension is glued in place with a few dabs of UHU  this is a lovely piece of Decrastone.  Sadly the man who cut these has retired and I haven't located a replacement.

The wires are threaded through the hole at the back of the hearth and the fire is stood in place.  Again, this can be left freestanding or fixed with tacky wax but I don't glue in place in case I need to make any adjustments or changes.

Finally the fire surround is fixed in place with glue.

In Dalton House I did wrap the skirting around the chimney breast but it is a real challenge to cut the front piece to an exact shape around the hearth and in real houses of the period I have seen it left off.  Seems like the wallpaper would get easily damaged in real life when cleaning so I am not comfortable with the solution ....  but if a grand house would risk it who am I to argue.  Decision made.