TURN YOUR NONWORKING FIREPLACE INTO something beautiful

If home is where the hearth is, then what happens when the fires can’t be lit? The fireplace and hearth are often symbols of home, offering warmth, light and, historically, food and protection. They have been central to our dwellings since they were first constructed.

Not all fireplaces remain sound enough to host a fire, however. And as disappointing as that may seem, an unused fireplace doesn’t have to be a missed opportunity for a grand design.

Josh Young, a D.C. artist and designer, says fireplaces not only add architectural value to a room, but they also ground and center a space. “It really allows the person who enters a room to focus in” on the center of a room, Young says, “and it’s usually through a fireplace or mantel.”

Rather than ripping your hearth out or letting it languish, read on to see how manageable DIYs, bespoke lighting and simple tweaks, such as adding a mirror, can transform your black hole of unused space into the star of the room.

1. Make it a book nook

Young filled a nonworking firebox with books in 2017, and the internet went crazy for it. West Elm invited him to style for it, and the fireplace full of books became “a whole thing on Pinterest,” he says.

Replicate his look by lining the bottom of the firebox with magazines to manage the soot-stained floor space, then stack your firebox with books of various sizes. “It can be a bit of a jigsaw as far as existing books you have or ones you may need,” Young says, but the result can act as a bookshelf. “There were many times I would reach in and pull out a book and read it,” he says. “It became almost like a library within itself.”

2. Make a faux log stack

The styled log stack is a popular way to decorate an unused

See Fireplace, Page 11

Thin plywood, leftover chalkboard paint, log rounds and glue are what Morgan Spenla used to create her faux log stack facade. To keep everything secure, she nailed each round to the board from the backside.