DIY Skull Fireplace Insert - Treehouse Threads

This skull fireplace insert is the perfect DIY to take your Halloween decor to the next level. One of my favorite parts of Halloween is decorating our mantle. It’s fun to switch up the theme and colors every now and then (check out this one from a few years ago). Last year I created a neutral boho-styled mantle with pops of light pink. The pink added just enough color to make it pop a bit. What was throwing me off was the dark fireplace frame and inside that took away from the soft neutral palette. I set off to create an insert that we could use to lean on the fireplace and tone down the darkness.

Here is what you need:

Thin piece of plywood cut to the size of your fireplace opening (or foam board/cardboard)
Plastic skulls
Hot glue
Hot knife – this is my go-to tool for Halloween! I carve all the foam pumpkins with it. I do not say many things are a must- but this tool really is a game changer!
Caulking or gap filler (this is optional)
Primer
Stone-textured paint
Paint color of choice
Mounting tape

Start by cutting a piece of plywood down to the size of your fireplace opening (you can have your local home improvement store do this for you if you don’t have a saw or you can use foam board/cardboard if thick enough).

Then cut off the backs of plastic skulls. The Dollar Tree had sold out of their plastic skulls so I repurposed some others I had at home.

plastic skulls glued down to plywood to make insert for Halloween — Here is a look at all the skulls I needed to repurpose to make this insert. Make sure you spray them with primer.

Glue the skulls to the wood using hot glue. You can set this up however you like, I wanted it to look like skulls were stacked up. The skulls won’t be flush to the backing so you can go back and use gap filler or caulking if you would like. Or you can cover the gaps with Spanish moss.

Once glue/caulking is dry and skulls are adhered, spray the entire thing (wood also) with primer. When primer dries, go back with stone-textured spray paint. You can leave it this white stone color or you can choose to spray whatever color you like. I decided I want a khaki/off white tone and sprayed the entire skull fireplace insert with that color.

When everything is dry, attach it to your fireplace (mine has a glass enclosure so it leans easily but I also used mounting tape to secure it).

It ended up looking so good and I love how soft the glow is when it is lit up at night!

You can see the entire how-to of the skull fireplace insert here. If you recreate this, tag me on Instagram or TikTok. I’d love to see it!

With love,

Shahla