Do you have a fireplace opening but are not looking to invest in a new fire or stove right now? Good news as we have put together a Pinterest board full of ideas to help turn your neglected disused fireplace, into the focal point in your room, even without a fire. Here are six of our favourite design ideas to help you inspire you.

Dawn Porter’s fireplace follows a good rule for interior design… fill every crevice with wine.

Funky design but we like the extra space being utilised for storage.

Your furry friend will appreciate their own space, tucked away and cool thanks to the movement of air. They may get draughty read to the bottom to find out how to correctly block your chimney.

The wood-in-the-fireplace idea has been done before, but there is a way to easyily remove the wood (and to discourage any creepy-crawlies from setting up home). Simply cut the ends of the logs off and attach them to a black board and make sure it fits nice and snug. When you are ready to use the fireplace again, simply slide the board out.

Keep the mesmerising, flickering flames alive but without the heat. Candles are a brilliant and easy solution to decorate your disused fireplace, as our gel burners.

Not a kindling pile! Store your books in an empty gap to add a burst of colour. It’s also easier to grab your favourite summer reads.

How to correctly block a disused fireplace

While all of these ideas are great uses of space and make for a feature in your room, don’t forget that leaving your chimney fully open when it is not being used can lead to damp and draughts throughout the year. In the winter warm air from your room heads up and out of the chimney into the cold air. This natural convection process is what provides a good draught when you have an open fire. In hot summers the reverse can happen when warm air from outside heads down the chimney towards to the cooler air inside. Don’t forget windy days, all of us who have a disused chimney will know when it is windy by the tell-tale howling noises that can be heard.

So what should you do?

Your first instinct may be to block off your chimney completely. Do not do this! Your chimney still needs to breath both at the top by the chimney pot and at the bottom in the room. We would suggest using a ventilated chimney caper on an unused chimney pot. This will allow the chimney to breath and prevent damp inside the stack.

At the bottom of the chimney inside the room, we would strongly suggest using a draught excluder this will help to prevent heat loss up your chimney, draughts coming down your chimney and wind noises. Our favourite is the chimella chimney umbrella which fires into action in seconds, fits a wide range of fireplaces sizes and prevents falling debris from within the chimney entering your room, or perhaps smashing your new wine collection.

Remember having an disused fireplace on an open chimney is the equivalent to leaving a window open in your room, and reports show that you could be spending as much as £200 more than you need to due to heat loss through an open chimney.

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