This TikTok DIY Turns IKEA BESTA Units Into A Luxurious Built-In Fireplace

Faux fireplaces are one of the best ways to make your home feel cozy and inviting while also adding a valuable focal point to any room. With many fake fireplace insert designs available, there is also a wealth of options for mantles and enclosures, including ready-made cabinets available from retailers. A more custom and affordable solution to a traditional mantle set-up, however, was recently spotted on TikTok, where user @alizeslifestyle__ showed off an ingenious hack for a faux mantle using a set of IKEA's popular and inexpensive BESTA cabinets. By using the BESTAs as a base and building a surround from simple wood battens, @alizeslifestyle__ is able to create a modern, sleek fireplace mantle and hearth that looks completely original to the home.

Available in black or white, BESTA cabinets can fulfill many excellent design hacks for a budget-friendly price of $50 for single cabinets and up to $300 for multi-cabinet sets. They are easy to assemble and mount directly to the wall or can be placed low for floor-level storage, like in this hack. For the actual fireplace, it's best to use a heatless unit, as heater units often require more clearance around them and can damage their plaster finish over time.

@alizeslifestyle__starts with two sets of BESTA cabinets cut down to size to fit the wall, placing them on the floor. To get the same look, measure out and adjust the size of the cabinets to fit your space. Then, she uses inexpensive wood battens like these from Home Depot to create a frame on the wall above the units that will support a plasterboard front and create a mantle. Next, she places the fireplace insert in the center of the BESTA, allowing it to rest on the units. She covers the area above with a sheet of plasterboard screwed to the framework she created, forming the wall above the fireplace. She then adds an additional horizontal batten to the top to serve as a mantle screwed directly to the wall. 

Next, cover the plasterboard in ready-made plaster, using a palette knife to create a subtle texture that resembles a stucco finish. Add a coat of emulsion paint in the desired white and a matt sealant to the finish for protection. She turns to the BESTAs below, beginning with a primer to paint the cabinets white (a step unnecessary if you begin with cabinets that are already white), and then repeats the plastering process she started on the wall above.

BESTA cabinets make a great base for this project, with plenty of variations to be found on TikTok, including one that involves slicing into the cabinets to create a recess for a tabletop faux fireplace. The insert uses heated water and steam to create a smokey, heatless look that burns in the open air above,  which looks stunningly modern and chic. To create an entire entertainment fireplace wall in your living or family room, you can add other storage cabinet varieties like IKEA's popular BILLY line for additional storage and framing for the fireplace surround. 

While @alizeslifestyle__ goes for a modern stucco look, you can customize the fronting and BESTA cabinets in this hack to your own design aesthetic, including adding other materials like tile, stone, brick, or shiplap paneling above and below the fireplace. For a more traditional mantel look, you can also build your framework off to the sides for a fully enclosed effect or add some hidden storage by building additional alcoves inside the framework.