summer fireplace

I was so excited about having a real wood burning fireplace for a few reasons. In the winter we can have that real fire smell and watch the fire. And in the summer, I’m not at the mercy of dusty pretend gas logs. I can make it look pretty!!!

Here I have some stumps in the fireplace, just for fun. Sadly they are tables that we need to use next to our sofa but we have so many stumps around here, I can always make more. Here’s more about stump tables.

fireplace before

Also, I still can’t show an “after” of this fireplace without showing the “before”. For the fireplace we just primed and painted the brick with regular semi-gloss paint. Our fire box is really deep and the brick doesn’t get hot at all. If your brick gets hot with a fire, you’ll need to check with your local paint specialist and use a specific kind of paint.

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Last fall I gathered up a bunch of branches and piled them in the fireplace. We took the mantel down at first but it was back up by Christmas.

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I even have some sticks that I painted white so I can mix them in if I want.

Here are a few other ideas I liked…

summer fireplace

the glitter guide

summer fireplace

breakfast at toast

art of doing stuff summer fireplace

art of doing stuff

Want to change up your fireplace for spring and summer?

Shop your house for large containers: baskets, wooden crates, big glass vases, and play around with the arrangement.

Shop your house for multiples of objects: old books, terracotta pots, plants, vintage suitcases, try anything, you can always remove it if it looks ridiculous.

Gather some logs and paint them colors to go with your home, or put glitter all over them, or stack them in an interesting way.

When we were first married I had a fern in a basket sitting on a a plant table directly in front of the fireplace in the summer. Have a plant convention in your fireplace and let them all hang out there for awhile. Don’t forget you can always cut down some leafy branches from your local trees and stick them in a bunch of different vases.

chakboard fireplace

Here’s my fireplace makeover from our rental house. I put up chalkboard contact paper on the surround.

Sometimes I striped it like in the photo above.

decorating around gas logsleft: gas logs in the summer looking boring                right: gas logs in the summer looking better with extra branches

And our renter’s fireplace with brick drawn on the chalkboard. Here we had gas logs. So in the summer I stacked real wood on top of the pretend logs. Just be SURE to remove them and sweep out the bark before you turn your fireplace on again in the fall!

I know you have a great summer fireplace idea, share it in the comments?

And for more ideas, visit my fireplace pinboard