26 Jun 2020 How to utilise your fireplace this summer
Along with their eye-catching statement designs, fireplaces add a great level warmth to your home throughout those bitterly cold winter months, but many people leave them unattended and overlooked once the summer arrives, allowing them to look lifeless and dreary. Allow yours to become a statement feature all year round by using some of our tips within your own home.
Before fashioning your fireplace in any way, ensure that soot and ash remains have been cleaned out thoroughly, allowing its intricate designs and iron work to dazzle, ready for its new summer look. There are many ways to decorate your fireplace, each suiting the look and feel of each different household, but here are just a few of our favourites.
Fireplace screens
A simple idea, and with the option of using something which you may already be in possession of if small children or pets live in your home, is to dress the fireplace up with its decorative screen. With the fire remaining un-lit for the foreseeable future, you have he ability to place the screen as close to the opening as you wish, often being able to fit underneath the mantelpiece, revealing a sleek and tidy fireplace look. This is also a good option if you have been unable to clean the ash away and are looking for a simple, yet effective cover-up.
Decorative woods
To allow your fireplace to continue its natural ambiance all year round, why not store some woods inside for decoration, such as small logs or pinecones. As these won’t be burnt, you have the option to dress them up, either by painting them to match the colour theme within the room, or by lacing a string of fairy lights throughout which can be switched on of an evening to create that wholesome fireplace feel without the unnecessary heat.
Candles
You may wish to keep that flame alive all year round, and to do this, why not use a selection of large candles within your fireplace opening. To allow the flames to create a larger glow, you could place mirrors behind and underneath the candles, reflecting the orange beams into your room and once again bringing the ambiance of your fireplace back to life.
Child friendly lighting
If young children live within your home, why not bring them in on the re-decoration of your summer fireplace and allow them to house ‘fairy homes’. By filling a variety of different shaped jars or bottles with fairy lights and switching them on at night, they will act as tiny fairies or pixies living within your fireplace. They will also create an attractive change of scenery for the adults to enjoy. To create a deeper and more eye pleasing effect, why not opt for a selection of bottles in different colours, allowing the lights to create a variety of tinged glows, or fill the bottles with feathers to create shadows and seal shut with a decorative cork.
Storage
If you find that your home is surrounded by various objects and items – otherwise known as ‘clutter’ – the empty fireplace could act as a scenic storage facility during the summertime. Large books, vases full of flowers or photo frames could vacate nicely within the opening creating a unique, statement fireplace.
Mix and match
When it comes to personalising your own fireplace, who says you have to stick to one option? The choices available are endless. Combinations such as photo frames draped with dainty fairy lights, flowers accompanied with feathers or logs behind a clear, glass screen have all proven popular ideas throughout homes within the UK, and remember, this is a chance for you to mirror the feel of your homes personality. Create a statement summer fireplace as inventive or minimalistic as you wish.
If your home is in need of a fireplace spruce-up or you require assistance with the purchase and fitting of a brand new one, get in touch with our friendly team at Fiveways Fires & Stoves by calling 020 8127 4747 or emailing .