Comments on: What to do with a decorative fireplace?

By: Joan from Pittsburgh

Joan from Pittsburgh — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:37:50 +0000

The fireplaces in old homes in Pittsburgh, where I live, are the charming, warm focal point of each room. They are not fake, but rather simply no longer functioning. The mantle holds a few beautiful objects, and the wall just above displays a favorite painting or print. Fireplaces are timeless classics; TVs are ever-changing pieces of equipment. Don’t ruin your beautiful fireplace with any permanent change. I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, but you just don’t know any better!

By: Meghan

Meghan — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 21:41:07 +0000

If you live in an older home, and if the fireplace is architecturally attractive, DO NOT take it out. That’s something that when you try to sell the house or people come over, they say ‘why did you get rid of your fireplace? are you nuts?’ I have lived uptown New Orleans most of my life and always have fireplaces in my apartments that just can’t be used because they are so old. Almost every single one has been filled in, so dust does not come in, but you have a beautiful mantlepiece to put a flat screen tv or mirror over. You can even get creative and put your TV in the old fireplace or stereo etc… Then, around Christmas, buy one of those ‘hearth’ DVDs that plays christmas music as well. It’s quite enjoyable.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:54:28 +0000

My old box-shaped TV fit perfectly inside my fireplace. I think the fireplace works, but we don’t use it.

People were pleasantly surprised to see a TV in there!

Eventually, I hope to get a flat-screen TV and stand it on the hearth in front of the hole of the fireplace. The Fireplace is in the exact center of the room and the focal point for all three of my couches. Without putting the TV there, I would have had to put the TV in the corner and it would be hard for anyone to watch it. It works out great!

Although if I owned my house and had unlimited money, I would want to rip it out and build built-ins for the TV, DVDs and bookshelves to take up the entire wall.

By: Julie

Julie — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 22:30:37 +0000

If you’ve got a big enough space, then here’s an idea: Paint the whole space white, add a mirror to almost cover the back wall (a cheap old tatty one, with or without a frame from a junk shop would be fine). Paint an old ‘basket grate’ or just an ordinary one white and fill it with large candles of different sizes in your favorite colors, various pastels or just plain white. Then you could swirl some fairy lights round the base of this with a few gorgeous silk or fake flowers stuck into them here & there to pretty it up even more. The mirror could be substituted for an old wrought iron gate painted white (with or without the mirror behind it. Some decorative odd, mismatched ceramic tiles could be used instead of the grate & for a bit of over the top decadence, you could even hang a fake crystal chandelier in there! This may or may not be to your taste, but it sure beats dumping your TV in there!

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:28:49 +0000

My TV goes in there.

By: Faye W

Faye W — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 06:11:28 +0000

I was thinking of actually making a tv fireplace. Get a fireplace casing from Lowes or Home Depot and put a flat screen in so I can actually hook up a DVD that plays a fireplace burning. Would the tv get too hot inside the casing you think? The back is always open on the casings though. What is some thoughts on my idea.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:04:25 +0000

I keep books in mine and people love it when they finally notice it, probably because we have so many books elsewhere that it’s clear we are out-of-control book collectors who just overflowed into every space. My mother used to grow a big aspidistra (its dark glossy leaves were more dressed-up-looking than a fern) spilling out of hers. It didn’t need a grow-lite. My grandmother’s fireplace had a plywood cover and she let me paint a still-life on it when I was in high school. It was really bad, so I could tell how much she loved me!

By: Helen

Helen — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:52:40 +0000

I used to keep dried flowers in a huge display in front of our empty, unused fireplace. As my husband would give me more flowers, I would add them to the arrangement and it would just continue to dry and grow. Now however, I want to use the hearth to put a big flat screen HD TV when we get one. It’ll be perfect!

By: tabatha

tabatha — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:50:28 +0000

i think you should have someone paint it so that it looks like some kind of weird tunnel that is going somewhere…

By: mb

mb — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:59:44 +0000

I have a fireplace that is functional but never used. I got piece of sheet metal from home depot, put some foam door insulation around the edges, put up the piece with the foam side against the brick and put a dvd bookshelf in front of it. Without being blocked, the chimney would suck all the heat out of the room in the winter.

By: Ranger Smith

Ranger Smith — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:20:34 +0000

If it’s not functional, then remove it. I think that’s the best way to unclutter.

By: Alfreda Prufrock

Alfreda Prufrock — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:31:24 +0000

Ours is a defunct non-vented hearth that once accommodated a gas room heater. We live in a 100 year-old arts and crafts bungalow, with dark wainscotting around the room. The tiles are also dark. The house is the sort where you walk into the middle of the living room. Rather than have the couch face the fireplace, we blocked the fireplace with the couch. It works great. The mantel is overhead with decorative stuff, and we have a painting hanging over the mantel.

By: WineWench

WineWench — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:59:50 +0000

In my last home, we had a fireplace in our family room that had a built-in wood box beside it. We converted the fireplace to gas logs and decided the wood box would make a great wine storage area! We actually found stackable wine storage racks that fit the space, but you could probably easily build something custom to fit the opening of your fireplace.

By: LaVidaMD

LaVidaMD — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:46:47 +0000

My parents have several “flameless candles.” I think they look pretty good. The batteries last an amazingly long time, too. Flameless candles would be a good alternative if you have kids or a dog and can’t have real candles close to the ground.

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.co.....SKU=110147

By: Karyn

Karyn — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:32:16 +0000

We had a fake mantel in our old house, and below, where a fireplace would have been, the previous owners had put white bathroom tile on the hearth and the inside of the “fireplace”. It looked like a urinal.

My husband got an electric fireplace and bricked it in there with red bricks. When we chipped up the white tile on the floor we found the original red-brick hearth. It looks wonderful now–the electric fireplace gives off heat and the effect of a fire (can also be used with the heat off, for ambience). With no worries about logs or sparks (for kids), or gas leaks (as with a gas fireplace) it was the perfect solution.

By: Andrew Twigg

Andrew Twigg — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:17:08 +0000

Matt, just though I should throw out to you that many PIttsburgh homes have fireplaces that _did_ serve a real purpose at one point in time. Most of the homes are over 100 years old, and the fireplaces were replaced with gas or coal furnaces years ago. But the vast majority were at one time actually a source of heat, which is why you’ll find fireplaces in many rooms in these houses. The house I currently live in has a fireplace in 4 of the 6 original rooms in the house.

We think that in order to reduce clutter, leaving the fireplace empty is the best way to go. Since all of our fireplaces don’t even have an inset area because of how they’ve been closed up, we leave that area empty and use the mantel as a decorative feature.

Odds are good that if you want to remove what is now a non-functioning fireplace, that unless the furnace in your home was installed in the late 90’s, the chimney behind your fireplace actually vents furnace exhaust. In some homes it may be a structural support.

By: Suzanne

Suzanne — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:12:21 +0000

We had an ugly fake fireplace (in a 1922 bungalow, not a white condo box) – we ripped it out (not too hard) and the niche that was left was the perfect size for 3 tall bookcases. To us, real books beat fake logs any day.

By: gypsypacker

gypsypacker — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:21:33 +0000

Put CD shelves in the fireplace opening and use a big brass fan screen in front, hang shutters, or make your own folding screen?

By: Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 04:35:03 +0000

As a couple of people posted above, my roomate and I also keep our tv inside the opening of our (now) non-functional fireplace. It’s a small, old, deep tv and it fits perfectly! We have the dvd player on top and stack dvds to the sides.
It works great and we actually get a few compliments when people notice!

By: Deb

Deb — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 03:31:28 +0000

If you cannot do anything with the fireplace, and want the wall back, try placing a room divider type screen in front of it and there you now have the “wall” to place furniture against.

Or, you could hang curtains as if it was a window and keep them closed as you place your tables, sofas, etc near. A fabric panel could be suspended from the ceiling and a large canvas can attach to it.

I am looking forward to seeing what people decide to do with their fireplaces.