What To Do With Your Fireplace This Summer

Most people associate fireplaces with winter months- envisioning a roaring fire warming up a cold living room while snow is falling outside. While fireplaces are certainly important in winter, there’s no reason that they must go unused in winter. A lifeless and bare fireplace will detract from the aesthetics of the room that it’s in so putting it to use in some way will ensure your decor looks great all year round. Fireplaces are features in any room they’re in and eyes will always be drawn to them so make sure yours is looking good no matter what the season. So that you can put your fireplace to some use throughout the year, we’ve got a few tips that will help your fireplace become a summertime room feature.

Before you start decorating your fireplace up for summer you’re going to want to make sure none of that ash and soot is left over from winter. Our cleaning and maintenance guide is a good place to start with cleaning up your fireplace and will take you through the most important steps. After making sure that all the ash is cleared away and discarded, the chimney is clean and everything is in a good condition you’re ready to give your fireplace a new look for summer.

Storage

Depending on how large your fireplace is, you may be able to turn it into a decorative storage feature. Items such as books and jars can be stored in decorative ways. For small fireplaces, stick to just a couple of items to avoid making it look too crowded. With larger fireplaces you may benefit from fitting some temporary shelves that will allow you to store more. Experiment with different combinations to find the right look for your fire.

Screen/Divider

If you didn’t take our advice for cleaning your fireplace for the summer then this is the option for you, although it will also work as a summertime fire decoration regardless. Have a decorative screen or divider over your fireplace to cover up your fire will still allow it to be a feature but will allow for a more unusual look.

Candles

Candles are a great way to keep a flame going in your fireplace through summer without giving off too much heat. You can keep things simple by just having one or two candles, or recreate the fireplace’s true job with a few more. Scented candles can be used to give your room a nice aroma, but you could also use the insect repelling citronella candle to keep pests out of your home this summer.

Mirrors

You can extend your room and make your room feature a little unusual by placing a mirror to the back of the fireplace. For standard sized and shaped fireplaces, it should be pretty easy to find a mirror to fit in well. If your fireplace has a more difficult shape then you could have a mirror cut especially for it, but you might want to just go with another option.

Decorative Logs

Not all logs must be burned; you can place some in your fireplace just for decoration. Logs feel natural in a fire anyway, so having decorative logs in your fireplace in summer is one of the best ways to keep it looking good all year round. Plain logs will look fine, but if you want to go an extra step further you could use logs that are painted to match the colour scheme of your room.

If you don’t have a fireplace in your home then you’re definitely missing out- even in the summer! Fireplaces are a feature of every room they’re in and are great for creating an atmosphere. Here at Real Flame, we stock a number of fireplaces that will complete the look of your home with ease, including many stunning electric wall mounted fires in London. If you would like more information about the fires that we can provide don’t hesitate to contact us on 0207 731 5025 and a member of our friendly team will be happy to help.