Lots of people have non-working fireplaces. Lots of people don't use them for much beyond burning candles. But a fireplace can be about six square feet in area, which is a lot if you're living small in, say, a four-or-five-hundred sf apartment...
There have to be some great ideas out there for putting that unused space to work. Just check out the wine storage in Tim Bee's non-working fireplace above. How do you make your antiquated fireplace work for you in your small apartment?
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TV sets, plants, vase(s) of flowers, arrangements of pillar candles, as a niche for a collection.... someone I know got a 19th century print of firemen putting out a blaze in a burning building and framed it to fit in the space.
Don't forget, those of us with working fireplaces like to change it up for the spring and summer months as well. I currently have candles in the fireplace for the homey fire affect without the heat. I'm open to ideas like the cool picture above, but there is so much soot in a working fireplace that even when it is clean, I would not put anything without a smooth, thoroughly washable surface inside it.
i don't have a fireplace, wish i did, but is it such a waste of space that it needs to be converted to a wine rack or ther uses?
It seems like such an anchor or focal point for a room that it should just be what it is a fireplace
I hung a white venetian blind in the fireplace in my first apartment to hide my vacuum cleaner. It was an old-law tenement, and I had all modern white stuff in it. (Anyone remember how new everything in Conran's looked back in the 80's?)
We have a gas fireplace that we've used once in the past 5 years. Since it has a built in fake log, we can't put anything in the fireplace.
The fireplace was designed to be the focal point of the living room, and it's actually elevated on a 10" brick ledge/shelf. Below the fireplace, the shelf juts out ~1'. To save space, we're using the ledge as our TV shelf and have put our slim DLP TV on it. TV to the modern man is what fire was to the caveman ("Ooo, bright flickering thing!"), so it's appropriate. It's also the perfect eye level -- I much prefer it over TVs mounted above the fireplace (no wordplay intended).
I have books in mine.
My boyfriend uses his to house his stereo (yes, STEREO) system. It works beautifully.
I don't have one, but I've always thought that what ami has done would be the best way to deal with this. Especially since you can always get one of those videos of yule logs, just anyway!
My apartment has an alcove that was intended to house an electric fireplace, with lighted shelves above, but I'm using it for a fountain:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7765379@N03/455800964/
What's the material in the fireplace, used for the wine storage?