Making The Most Of A Non-Working Fireplace Paris

Making The Most Of A Non-Working Fireplace
Paris

One of the luxurious problems of living in an old building in Paris is sometimes being faced with a non-working marble fireplace. These often go neglected, or end up as messy storage for clutter or a station for the TV...

But Marie Claire Maison has a little DIY feature on their website to help those with non-usable fireplaces to make them a feature, painting them to accentuate their lines and turn them from useless details into real focal points in a room.

- Kristin Hohenadel blogging from rue Vieille du Temple, Paris, France. She can be reached at kristin @ apartmenttherapy . com

Comments (10)

Wow. Cool stuff.

posted by ltblmr on August 15th 2008 at 4:13am
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Neat. I can't read most of it but I get the idea...
And I like the idea of displaying the small table in front of it. I may do that. (OK, I think that's a stool, but I have a small table.)

posted by whytephoenix on August 15th 2008 at 4:38am
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i can't think of anything more tacky than putting a tv in the fireplace! ugh

posted by Kat1 on August 15th 2008 at 5:13am
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OMG, eyegasm!

posted by Snugglitas on August 15th 2008 at 6:17am
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i use my fireplace as a headboard for my queen size bed:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/areneetay/2632000897/

posted by areneetay on August 15th 2008 at 6:58am
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I've always wanted to fill an empty fireplace with candles - an alternative "fire".
A fireplace surround is like a huge, decorous frame. I'll bet it would make a great display for some creative person's art installation.

posted by lifesized dollhouse on August 15th 2008 at 7:00am
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This exact same subject was covered very recently in another post. Candles and objects d'art seemed to be the consensus.

I can't read French, but I thought it was pretty amusing that one of the fireplaces in the article about unusable fireplaces showed . . . a roaring fire! WTF?

posted by Griffin on August 15th 2008 at 7:03am
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griffin, the marie claire piece isn't just about unusable fireplaces but fireplaces in general (although it does say that certain techniques shouldn't be used on working fireplaces).

posted by clemoni on August 15th 2008 at 7:46am
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Good god, that fireplace is hot!!

posted by jennifer in sf on August 15th 2008 at 8:42am
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Well done, areneetay! Given me some ideas about my difficult bedroom!

posted by madampince on August 15th 2008 at 10:23am
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