Valentines Mantel and A Weird Use for a Fireplace…
I have two little projects to show you today. A simple little Valentine’s mantel, all decked out on the mantel we installed on our stone fireplace (basic instructions included, in case you want one and don’t know where to start)!!! But I also wanted to call attention to the fireplace… we decided to use it for an un-intended purpose, and we love it!!
First the Valentine’s Mantel!
Basically, I found this awesome red wreath (at Kneaders, my favorite restaurant… they seriously must love me. I buy half of their display every time I go in there), But the wreath wasn’t cheap, so I really only bought that one thing, and just used a few other things that I had in my closet of stuff! And then because, we are doing a bathroom project, my old bathroom mirror was free and BAM!! we had a mantel!
(I made the little heart garland with my girls, with foam paper and a stapler!… man that foam paper stuff stinks?!)
On to the other weird thing we did… In the fall we showed you our fall mantel, if you check out the link you will see that we had to work around our TV and players. One of the main reasons we installed the mantel was to have a place for the TV, so that has been on the mantel since we installed it. But when I did my Christmas mantel, I didn’t want to have to deal with the TV. So we uh, put it in the fireplace!!! Crazy people!
So technically, the fireplace is not usable, it doesn’t draw the smoke out properly, and so we have never used it. We’ve had some fake logs in there that are fun, but our little TV fits in there perfectly along with our blue ray and wii…
Justin used some scrap wood to create a little stand for the players that fit the fireplace perfectly and then we just painted it black. To finish it off, we ran to Target to buy a fireplace screen. The best news to me, is that when people come over now half the time, no knows we have a TV! Awesome, let’s just sit around and talk… did you know that you could do that in a front room? Me neither!
The best thing? My niece showed me the fireplace video on Netflix… So now we have a fireplace too… it was perfect for our family Christmas party!
So, would you put your TV in an unused fireplace? Or are we just weird?… cuz if we are, I really don’t mind it!
THIS IS AWESOME!!!
THANK YOU!!!
Love it! Would totally do this if we didn’t have a gas fireplace insert, our tv is in the basement.
Good I am glad I am not too crazy!
Not at all! I dislike craning my neck for my parent’s tv above the mantel – it is so high! I love that you can put the fireplace channel on behind the screen too. 🙂
I know right, the best of both worlds! The video even crackles and pops like a fire (with the occasional subtitle… cuz all fires should have subtitles… sizzle, pop, crackle!!!!)
I love it! We use a wood fireplace insert to heat our home, so that wouldn’t work for us, but if you’re not going to use the fireplace, why not?
YAY! I wish we had a fireplace that worked, such a fabulous heat source!
This was GENIUS! How did you plug it in?
THANK YOU! We actually have an extension cord, that just runs right in front of the rock to the side wall, so I guess that is the only drawback! But we don’t even notice it, it is about the same color as the mortar on the stone.
One of my best friends growing up had the tv in her living room in the fireplace. I always thought it was a cool place for it (ha!), since it was not functional as a fireplace. =)
I love that mirror. I saw you use it in the entry way/stair make over post. I know it well because I have just purchased one off craigslist (gold) that I plan to paint and put in my entry way…I am such a copy cat. Love it in the mantle and with both the yellow and red wreath. Did you paint it? Any tips on that?
Oh I love this mirror!! GOOD BUY! (although can I admit, if I had the chance to change my mind, I might have left is gold now!!) I love me some gold accents! But then it is SO versatile white… so maybe I really just need one more mirror!!!
Love this… so clever!
Thanks Stephanie!!!
Sooooo much cheaper than a lift! I wish I had a fireplace now! Hmmm…maybe a faux fireplace/entertainment center!
We did a faux fireplace in my last house I LOVED IT!! Check it out if you have a minute! https://www.remodelaholic.com/2012/01/building-the-fake-fireplace-mantel/
I love your mantel display–that wreath is gorgeous! And putting a TV in an unused fireplace is GENIUS! I totally did not see it in there with the fireplace screen in place. What a fabulous solution to not wanting a TV to stick out in a beautiful room!
YAY! Glad you don’t think I am crazy!
That’s hilarious, I love it. Double duty space. Let’s hope your hubby doesn’t get the tv fever… And need to upgrade. If he starts to chip away at the stone, you know what’s coming 🙂
I know, we have a rather small TV, but we aren’t big TV watchers!LUCKILY, thank heaven, my husband couldn’t care less about sports, so I think we will try to get away with our little screen for well, until we have one of those huge media rooms…
We never use our fireplace, so I would totally put my TV in there if it didn’t have a gas insert. I may not get to put a TV in it, but I did just update my fireplace and I’ll be posting about it on Friday! 🙂
Yay! I love a good fireplace update! They just make a room!
Who ever heard of an unused fireplace???? But if I had an unused fireplace, I think this is a great idea.
Well maybe not in the south right now with all those crazy storms! but if a fireplace fills your house up with smoke, that can kill you… so I think leavin git unused is the better option!! Also in Utah air quality is majorly effected by inversion where the bad air just FILLS the valley right up and doesn’t clean out til a storm comes through. Because of that, there are many days you simply are not allowed to burn, so you can’t fully rely on a fireplace for heat here.
True to all of that. I’ve found all our fireplaces while living in utah push the smoke into the house instead of out the chimney. We found that you had to heat up the chimney first to get the smoke to go out, by holding a lit piece of paper or long stick up in the chimney.
I do love this idea though!
Would I ? Heck yeah!! It took much creative and strategic persuasion to convince my husband that we should only have a tv that is in the bedroom. So I have lived without a tv in our living room for almost 10 years…until now! We became foster parents and it is against the rules to be in bed with the foster kids…so the way we did movie nights with our children is not how we do them now. So we now have a tv in the living room.
I am thinking since my fireplace it not elevated like yours it could be too low, but I think I might try it! Where did you plug your TV in at? Even a non working fireplace doubtfully has outlets inside. Great idea and nice fireplace!
We have an extension cord, but it is not too noticeable! Good Luck! And Good for you for being a foster parent, hard but totally worthy work!!!
I LOVE this idea! We are renting a home with two non-working fireplaces and this is such a great idea!
I am so glad to hear it!
I can’t tell you how long I have thought about doing this and looked online to see if someone had done it. Now I know. 🙂 I’m so doing this! Our fireplace doesn’t work so well as far as heating, so this is the perfect solution!
YAY! I am happy to give your permission to be weird like me! I really truly love it!
THIS. IS. AWESOME.!!!!!!!!!!!
YAY! Thanks!
That is AWESOME!!! And I use that fireplace video sometimes too! LOL
Thank Nicki!
Thanks for showing this. I recently fell in love with playing a fireplace DVD on the TV. I gave one to my dad, too. We’ve had real fireplaces all our lives, but not now — and we don’t miss the mess and bother and expense.
Today my father got the idea to insert a TV into a fireplace, as you did. You see, our city, Montreal, will ban the burning of wood in the year 2015. So he thought that could make someone a bit of money to fit people’s fireplaces with TVs, as you have done.
Cheers!
Wow! That is so interesting that they are banning fires, what about emergencies when power and heat are not available? I love having my TV there, but in a pinch we could pull it out and use the fireplace. Either way, gotta love the fire video!!
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Brilliant!
Thanks! 🙂