If you’ve ever let “resale value” dictate your home improvement decisions, it’s time for a reality check. Your house should work for you, not for some hypothetical future buyer who may or may not love your style choices. That’s exactly why my wife, Nicole, and I decided to kick our barely functional electric fireplace to the curb and replace it with something way more useful: a custom-built wooden insert that houses a proper center channel speaker.
The Problem: A Fireplace That Did Nothing
Our basement family room had a lot going for it—except for one glaring issue. It wasn’t wired for surround sound, and there was no good place for the all-important center channel speaker. The main culprit? A cheap electric fireplace that:
- Made more noise than heat
- Looked realistic… but only when it was turned off
- Took up prime real estate where my speaker should have been
One day, curiosity got the best of me, and I tugged at the fireplace. Surprise! It wasn’t even secured. It was just sitting there, mocking me. That unexpected discovery gave me the perfect opportunity to run the speaker wires I needed. But it still left me with a dilemma—where would the speaker go?
The Solution: A Custom Wooden Insert
Enter my brilliant wife, Nicole, who suggested the obvious answer: get rid of the fireplace entirely and replace it with a built-in wooden insert. And thus, a project was born.
Designing the Insert
I jumped into SketchUp to design a simple but sturdy box that would fit snugly into the alcove. Nothing fancy—just a well-constructed plywood case with a walnut face frame to class things up.
Choosing Materials
For this project, I treated myself to some high-quality materials:
- ¾” and ¼” walnut plywood – Pricey, but hey, sometimes the cobbler’s kids actually get shoes.
- Solid walnut for the face frame – Because if I’m doing this, I’m doing it right.
Building the Insert
- Cut the plywood pieces – Two long pieces for the top and bottom, plus shorter side panels. And one piece of 1/4″ for the back.
- Assembly – Glue, brads, and 90-degree clamps kept everything square.
- Face frame – I used my Domino joiner for extra strength and alignment.
- Finishing – A classic combo of Seal-a-Cell and Arm-R-Seal for a rich, durable walnut glow.
Installing and Wiring
With the insert finished, I took care of some bonus upgrades:
- Ran speaker wires and installed a low-voltage bracket for the center channel
- Added extra electrical outlets because future me will thank past me
- Secured the insert in place and even threw in an LED smart light strip for a little extra flair
The Final Result
The new insert fits like a glove (cue the Ace Ventura reference). It’s sleek, functional, and—best of all—it doesn’t pretend to be a real fireplace. Now the center channel speaker sits exactly where it should, and our home theater setup is finally complete…
…except now the built-ins next to the alcove look terrible. But hey, that’s a project for another day.
Until next time—happy building!