An Electric Fireplace in a Cozy Log Cabin
A Colorado man wanted to add an electric fireplace to his cozy log cabin home – and Norwich Dakota Stone Wall panels in Toasted Brown provided the perfect frame.
American frontier architecture is some of the most exciting and timeless there is. Nothing beats a log cabin, for example – and while modern homebuilding techniques can complete homes in half the time and at a fraction of the price, people still spend millions on real timber and log cabin homes because nothing comes to close in terms of look or character.
That’s certainly true for Rich Chiappe – a FauxPanels.com customer from Colorado who owns vacation rental properties in Estes Park. His gorgeous homes embody everything that people who visit the state enjoy – a stylish look, classic amenities and a connection to nature reiterated by the use of organic elements like real wood and stone.
Norwich panels help make this fireplace look right at home
Rich wanted to add a practical and stylish fireplace to the home’s living room – embedded into the wood walls above the flatscreen TV. The home was already beautifully natural, utilizing those thick timber logs and real wood beams – but a fireplace was a very desirable addition.
The problem was that adding a fireplace to a wooden wall didn’t look right, no matter how safe, practical or convenient it was. Since the days of the cavemen we’ve always assumed that heat and wood are a dangerous combination, and even though that’s not the case with modern recessed fireplaces, it’s still oddly disquieting to see a fireplace installed in a wooden surface.
But Rich didn’t want to build a real stone fireplace to house this new addition – as it would have been incredibly expensive and wildly impractical. He needed a solution which provided the look of stone, but with the ease-of-installation and practicality of more modern materials.
Fortunately, FauxPanels.com offered a solution.
BEFORE
The panels provided exactly the look of hand-laid stonework that Rich was looking for, but in an affordable, practical and even fire-rated material that could seamlessly be installed onto the existing wall surface.
Rich needed to measure the surface he wanted to cover, trim the panels to fit, and then secure them with construction adhesive and screws. It was a project that was incredibly straightforward; while providing an incredible, customized look. Rich took it a step further by adding a real stone shelf in front of the recessed fire, and a discreet faux stone edging underneath the TV screen itself.
The end result looks like a real stone fireplace, as much part of the home as the timber beams and log walls. It’s the perfect addition to the cabin while looking original to the structure.
It’s projects like this in which our faux stone materials really prove themselves to be ‘better than the real thing’ because using real stone would have been prohibitive for a number of reasons. Rich managed to benefit from the affordable price and easy installation – but he didn’t have to compromise on the one thing that characterizes his business – the timeless look of the classic American frontier.