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This stacked log fireplace insert was easy, FREE, and only took a few hours to complete!
We have a wood burning fireplace in our living room that is “functional” but wildly unsafe for our wildly unsafe toddler. Pre-child me would decorate it seasonally because generally I am a festive person.
Current me is sick of replacing the same trinkets 42903421 times a day and needed some simplicity in my life. Enter: Stacked Log DIY! I saw a few versions of this on Pinterest, but wasn’t really impressed. They all looked fake. I wanted mine to appear more realistic, with rustic shapes and real wood.
Luckily, we also have a wood stove that we burn during the winter months so there was no shortage of wood to choose from. I wanted variety, so I chose a few different types of wood (ash and oak, if you care) and also some round logs to break up any patterns.
I reeeeeally did not want to spend money on this project. We have quite a collection of scraps from other projects, so I knew I could make something work. That being said, nearly all the supplies I used can be found at a hardware store on the cheap. You can even buy firewood at some grocery stores or convenient stores!
Time to get crafty
the set up 
A close up of the varying thicknesses 
placement of the screws
We measured the dimensions of the fireplace to figure out how big to cut our plywood backer. I knew I wanted it to cover the whole opening, but left about 1/2″ all around for wiggle room.
Then, I cut the scrap plywood to size and spray painted it matte black. There was some left over from when we painted the brick surrounding the fireplace. This didn’t have to be a perfect job because it was going to be covered by the logs. Painting it black would give the illusion of depth.
Using a chop saw, I cut wedges of wood 4″-6″ long. I don’t know if this was the *best* method, but I don’t do chainsaws and it was fast. My husband helped me because there were a lot of cuts to make and frankly I have no patience. Seriously though, make sure you feel comfortable with cutting logs however you do it. It’s a lot different than lumber.
Once all the wood was cut, I arranged them to fill the plywood backer. We laid the plywood on some sawhorses and basically reverse engineered a puzzle. We didn’t want to much black space, but also wanted it to look like a legit stack of firewood. Sounds easy – took about 45 minutes.
Then we attached them to the plywood with screws from the back. The pieces of wood individually were not heavy, but all of them together on the plywood was a lot so we wanted to be extra sure they were going to be secure. I found some random deck screws in the basement, but as long as they are long enough to get through the plywood and some of the log, you’re good.
All about the ba(se)
Cool – we were basically done. All of the tutorials I read either didn’t have any support base or it was very minimal. Since we used thicker cuts of the logs to add depth, we needed a base to support the extra weight. My husband over engineered the base to death but it was important that this was as secure as possible because again – wild child toddler.
Using scrap 2×4’s from the garage, he constructed a base that could hold a cinder block. This would act as a counter-weight to keep the insert from falling over. This is a functional fireplace, so we wanted to make sure we could remove this easily if we wanted to change the appearance/ actually have a fire.
Then we slid the base in to the fireplace and lined it up to fit. It took a little bit of wiggling but imagine my shock and surprise when it came out so perfectly on the first try! We had some immediate family over that night and they thought we stacked the wood in there. Needless to say, I was happy to show off our handy work.
Would you make this stacked log fireplace insert for your home? I love how warm it makes the room feel, and I also love that my daughter can’t mess with it.
