During the colder months of the year, a fireplace is the perfect feature for any room. It adds warmth to chilly days, adds light and colour to grey and dull days, and is everyone’s favourite place for curling up with a hot drink to while away the long evenings.
However, an unlit fireplace doesn’t quite have the same allure, so once the warmer weather rolls in and it gets too warm to use your fire, what do you do with it? Here are a few clever style ideas to help you make the most of your fireplace even on the warmest of summer days.
Mantelpiece Display
If you have a traditional fireplace with a mantelpiece, then you have the perfect place to create an artistic display. It will quite naturally be a strong feature of your room even when the fire isn’t lit, so it’s the ideal place to show off your style. You can create a subtle display with cut flowers and houseplants for colour, along with a few candles and little objets d’art for interest, or you can go all out and create an eclectic display of all the most interesting knickknacks in your collection. Either way, you’ll be able to make a great talking point with your display.
Subtle Screen
When a fireplace is out of use, it can create something of a decorative “hole”; it’s a blank space where you’re used to seeing light and movement, and this can sometimes be seen as ugly. The solution is simple; a decorative screen to place in front of the fire when it’s not in use, which will effectively fill the hole and tie it in with the rest of your decor. This can be a simple screen with a geometric pattern that reflects other elements in your room, or it can be an elaborately painted piece of art. If you’re a dab hand with a brush, you could even display your own work in this way!
Alternative Contents
Another way to fill the unused space of an unlit fireplace, particularly a solid fuel burning one, is simply to clean it out and display something else there. If you’re worried about getting soot on the items you’re showing off, and you’re certain that you won’t be using the fire for a while, you could build a box to fit inside the fireplace and set up your display in there. Candles are a popular option, but you could show off almost anything you can think of. One fantastic option for anybody with a wood burning stove is to simply fill it with fairy lights in summer – that way you can still have a beautifully lit fireplace feature without the unwanted heat!
Reuse the Space
The arrival of spring is often a cue for some cleaning up and redecorating. You can also take it as a cue to reorganise your room and your furniture. While the fire’s in regular use over the colder months, you will have had to keep the area directly in front of it fairly clear, but once the fireplace is staying off you can move things into that space without worrying about them melting. If you have a large front hearth, you might create a little seating area with a couple of comfy stools, or you might find an attractive coffee table that would fit the space nicely. Whilst in the winter your fireplace will often be the main feature towards which all your furniture is oriented, in the warmer months you might choose another feature, such as a picture window, as your prime feature and accentuate the fireplace a little less.
Here at Real Flame, we’re experts on everything fireplace; from gas fires to bio ethanol burners to wood burning stoves in London. Whether you’re looking for a new feature for your home, updating your fireplace or looking for an experienced engineer to service your fire, we can help. Simply get in touch with our friendly team for more information.
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