Choosing Fireplace Screens For Your Home

Fireplace screens can be affordable alternatives to actual doors, and they can provide the same basic protection for a fire in your home. These pieces can limit the amount of airflow going through your fireplace, which is often the cause of heat loss for your home. Decorative fireplace screens can also bring new design elements to a room if you choose the right ones. Here are some tips to help you do just that.

Antique Screens

An antique fireplace screen can add character to a room, and you can usually bet that the one you buy will not be seen in other homes. Antique screens are not hard to find, but they are hard to find in multiples. If you are looking for an interesting piece that nobody else will have in their home, look to the antique options available to you. Antique fireplace screens vary so much in style that it is very easy to find a unique piece.

Modern Screens

If you do not like the antique look, you can get a modern screen for your fireplace. These are usually geometric and feature symmetric or random patterns of shapes that light up when the fire starts. Some modern screens have hazed glass that allows you to see the light behind without seeing the fire itself. You can still get the same warmth this route, but you do not necessarily have to watch the fire if you do not want to.

Glass Screens

If you do not want to have much of a design aspect going with your fireplace screen, you can opt for a simple glass one. Glass fireplace screens are typically framed in metal, and they can come in decorative etching, glazing, coloring, and more. There are clear glass ones as well, and these are available in some of the most simplistic designs. Glass screens are the most popular options on the market, and they tend to be the most affordable.

Metal Screens

There is an array of metal decorative fireplace screens on the market today, and they are offered in wrought iron, copper, bronze and more. Metal screens can be made to look like almost anything, from floral designs to geometric shapes. They can be backed in glass or other metals, but you need to be careful in choosing one that will not heat up when you put it in front of the fire. This can be dangerous if you have small children or pets that may get burned when they touch the screen.

No matter which fireplace accessories you choose, any new addition will add some much needed change to your decor. Get online today and check out the wealth of information available to help you make your next decision on how you want to accessorize your fireplace.

Using Your Fireplace Screen Properly

Everyone loves a fireplace. Wood burning fireplaces are particularly popular places for the family to gather on a chilly autumn or winter evening. And it just wouldn’t be Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas Eve without a roaring fire to add a bit of extra festivity to the occasion. With the choice of the right antique fireplace screen, your hearth can continue to be the focal point of your room, even after the last ember has died away. Certain precautions, however, should be taken to protect your screen as well as your home and family.

There are a huge variety of fireplace screens available on the market today. Glass fireplace screens are particularly popular since they combine beauty with practicality. Not only does the glass provide a charming, elegant look to your hearth, but it also serves as a shield to keep cold drafts that can slip past the chimney damper from chilling the room. A stained glass fireplace screen can be particularly beautiful and, with the addition of a low-power electric light placed in the fire box, can create a dramatic visual effect between fires.

One mistake many people often make with a glass fireplace screen, however, is to close it when a fire is burning. Although tempered glass is incredibly strong, most grades are not designed to stand up to the intense heat generated by a roaring wood fire. The glass can easily crack when exposed to such heat. In fact, it can actually shatter violently if something cold (like a carelessly handled glass of water) happens to splash against it when it is extremely hot. While some types of glass doors are safe to close during a fire, most are not. Unless your screen specifically advertises itself as being safe, do not take the chance of closing it.

While the glass should never be closed when a fire is burning, the metal screen should always be firmly in place. Whether the screen is a curtain-like mesh that draws closed or a door-like design that swings into place, it is important to have it tightly closed when in use. Special care should be taken with a curtain-like screen to avoid leaving a small gap where the two pieces meet, which can allow an errant ember to pop out of the fire box, damaging your carpet or, worse yet, burning someone.

Dire warnings aside, a glass screen adds unsurpassed beauty, safety and convenience to any fireplace. As long as you understand its limitations and respect the inherent risks of an open flame in your home, your fireplace screen will continue to add charm and style to your home for a lifetime.