This is such a great idea!!!!

Any thoughts on how she attached the chalkboard?

What was unsafe about it before that could not be solved by just taking out the logs and cleaning it out (or closing the doors if there were doors -it's hard to tell). Sure, this is nice and they may prefer it - but the "before" did not reek of danger to me...

Great idea! Does the chalkboard come off? Just thinking about christmas time. :)

Does it come off? How do they use the fireplace?

This solution only works when not in use. And it actually kinda promotes getting close to the fire place. I think it looks like fun. But I wouldn't necessarily see this as a great safety measure.

it looks a little unfinished to me, but not a bad idea if you don't plan on using it.

darn. I was kinda hoping for something to really child proof it. We have a big brick hearth and a nearly walking 11 month old. Right now I just have a barricade of pillows and chairs.

But this *is* clever...if you arent going to use your fireplace.

We don't use our fireplace at all and we have a similar cover. Our toddler kept trying to climb inside it. It's a gas fireplace, so removing the logs and just letting her play in there wasn't really an option.

Airexurb - we use our fireplace all the time and needed a removable cover to soften the edges for our 11 month old cruisers. So we just got an inexpensive World Market carpet runner, drapped it over the hearth, and hand-sewed the corners so it stays up. Easy and effective!

This is so clever and such an improvement over trying to keep a curious child from a dangerous gas fireplace. You probably wouldn't be using the fireplace much anyway, so this new board means the toddler can play and enjoy the fireplace all day long. Great idea.

Lindsay here. Thanks so much for your great comments! My friend Kate did this project and here is a little bit about how she went about it.

She had plywood cut at HomeDepot to fit over the opening of her fireplace. Paint plywood with several coats of magnetic paint,dry, then paint plywood with a few coats of chalkboard paint.

From here she affixed the plywood to her metal fireplace frame with industrial strength magnets AND screws (her hubby put the screws directly into the metal at the top and bottom of the plywood.)

She plans to get the fireplace in tip top shape and use it again when her babe is older, but for now She is not using it at all.

Hope that answers some of your questions!

I hate to say it but, like anmar, I think that it us generally a bad idea to turn something potentially hazardous into a playspace. In a few years when you do begin having fires again, it might be tougher to keep the little one away from what used to be his toy.

Hey all- Kate here- I did this fireplace with the help of my handy hubby.

Two words of advice- in hind sight, we would suggest using dry wall or another wood that doesn't warp. The reason we had to use screws to attach the board to the fireplace is the plywood warped and the magnets would not attach securely. We didn't want any little fingers taking the board down.

Also invest in some industrial strength magnets to attach the board to the metal fireplace. We found even the strongest magnets at Home Depot were NOT strong enough. Investing in some strong magnets would make this project completely removable when you wanted to use the fireplace.

For us, it made sense to completely cover up the fireplace for now. We are not able to use the fireplce right now. We had a slight gas leak, so we disconnected the gas for now. The Chimney also needs to be professionally cleaned and repaired- we bought a major fixer upper, but we love it. Not to mention it would be extremely dangerous to start a fire around our son right now (20 months old).

Before this project, the fireplace was a major hazard with our son, all he wanted to do was climb in, no way to secure the glass doors. This is the main family room/ playroom/kitchen that we spend most of the hours in our day in. Taking down that baby gate has opened up to room and given us lots more playspace- all the kids are having a great time!

Hope this inspires you to make a baby-safe change in your house! Kate

I'm sorry, because this is a very attractive solution, but like anmar and tmoore, I think it is a bad idea to get children comfortable with coming so close to a potentially dangerous area.

When you are at the homes of friends and family who have working fireplaces -- perhaps even in use -- your children will not have been taught that it is unsafe to come close to a fireplace, and that the area in front of a fireplace is not a play area. Indeed, they will have been taught the exact opposite -- that fireplaces are legitimate play areas.

The way we handled it with our children when they were very young is that we put bumpers around the hearth, but did nothing extra to block off the fireplace. We had fires in there a few times, and used those occasions to teach them that fires and fireplaces are hot and dangerous, and that they should avoid them as much as possible. We've never had an issue, and they have avoided fireplaces.

With respect to your son climbing in, I agree with blocking off the interior of the fireplace, but not with turning that into a play area.

I think it's great. And honestly in a few years when you remove the board your child will be old enough to understand that you can't play in the fireplace.

y'know my son's now three. we have a fireplace that we've never used (but a wood burning stove downstairs that we HAVE used). we never had to block off the wood burning stove, and we pretty much used the fireplace upstairs as a parking lot for his big trucks.... and he's never been confused about staying away from a fire... maybe we were vigilant w/the woodburning stove... but I don't think that this is teaching a child to not be wary or cognitive of a fireplace w/a burning fire. when they are ready to repair the fireplace their little one will be older and much more aware of fire/hot/beware & no. I don't think it's a bad idea... and I think this is a great way to block off the area & was pretty creative.

No offense but while this is kid friendly, it's not very attractive.

How about a dog-proof fireplace? My pomeranian loves to eat cooled coals, and I have to wait a bit to clean them out. I've been blocking it off with various heat-proof items and would love ideas for next winter (right now I have a secretary desk in front of my fireplace!)

This is pretty neat, but I think it would cause my kids to play around the fireplace more. My wife found this really cool hearth pad and fireplace insert for our fireplace. It is made with a wood frame/foam and is covered in fabric to match our decor. This has been a lifesaver. It fits in fireplace just like chalkboard but is covered in fabric. The hearth pad adds additional seating as well for our tiny place. It is called the Jack-Mat. Found it online.

All the hubbub about how dangerous this is seems silly. The babe's almost 2 now. They're planning on keeping this up for months if not a year if not years. And when they're using the fireplace, I imagine they (gasp) might put a gate in front of it in addition to teaching about fire safety/hot things are hot. So, you know, the kid won't get hurt. Also, the only way to teach kids not to jump into fires is by never letting them in a household where there has ever been a fire--fireplace, candle, or otherwise. Seriously, relax.

What a clever idea!

It also doesn't look anything like a fireplace now to a child. I can't imagine a child going to someone else's house and seeing a fireplace with burning logs and thinking "Hey, I should play with that because it's like my play area at home." Geez. Overprotective much people???

I think this is a great idea and they can teach their older child not to play near the fireplace once the board is removed. We also have a fireplace that we don't use, and when our son started crawling, we put his toy chest in front of it. It's still there, until our second baby gets older.

The Debbie Downers on this site re: kid safety issues are getting ridiculous.

Haha @ PineTree. I agree. I'm PRETTY sure the parents of the children are far more concerned for their children than a bunch of random strangers on a design website. Chill out. ;)

I don't know any kid who grows up and cannot tell the difference between magnets on a wall and a burning fire!

Ditto what Pinetree said.
My thoughts exactly.

We have an old poster on foamboard (turned on its side, no less - admittedly super tacky and ugly) stuffed in our fireplace b/c we never use the fireplace and the poster keeps drafts away and kids out of the gas fireplace. This project would be a big style/functionality improvement over what we've got going on at my house. Oh, and I haven't noticed my kids jumping into other people's fireplaces thinking they must be harmless posters.

I think this is a lovely idea, a great use of otherwise wasted space. As to safety concerns, kids are inexperienced, not idiots, and they learn from their mistakes just like the rest of us. Hyper-vigilant parenting may feel good to the parent, but it hinders a child's natural development and teaches them to buy into a false sense of dependence on their caregivers. Of course that's just one parent's opinion...but then again, it's the opinion of a parent who doesn't have to worry that my toddlers will fling themselves into a blazing fireplace if given the opportunity!

We did a similar thing with our bookshelf. We painted a sheet of finish plywood with chalkboard paint and it was the perfect size to set in front of the large Ikea Expedit bookshelf. It kept junior out of our good books and was a nice drawing area. Now that he's old enough to leave things alone we put it in the kitchen and use it all the time to draw and "paint" (with water) and play games on and learn words.

I think this is great and fully plan to steal this idea. We are moving into a rental with a wood-burning fireplace and I've been thinking about ways to childproof it.

I don't think kids would be confused by making the dangerous fireplace into a play space. A chalkboard and magnets is pretty different than a pile of hot, flaming logs. Pretty sure we'll be able to make our little one understand the difference!

I agree.. this is a creative child-safety issue. I'm pretty sure that by the time the chalkboard is removed, the child will know the difference between colorful magnets and flames.

I think it's rockin! We have a 3 and a 4 year-old and have never covered our wood-burning fireplace except for the wrought iron grate. Wish I'd come up with this idea about 3 years ago... Given that we have a 900 sq.ft. house, it would've helped out a lot!

Based on the comment that plywood warps, I thought I would try this using foam core. It's way lighter than drywall even, and I thought I would use that really hardcore stiff velcro to attach it to the brick. Think it will work?? Thoughts??

I used this idea to cover our fireplace. I bought a piece of wood at Home Depot, painted it with chalkboard paint and then used industrial strength velcro to attach it. We are going to keep it up for a few years. I doubt the kids (currently one and three) will be confused about the safety aspect by then.