Fire Place Cover up

[daycare]

As you all know space in the daycare is never to be wasted.

I have a fire place that I would like to cover up, but have it serve a purpose at the same time.

Can anyone here share how they have covered their fireplace?

Thanks

[Childminder]

We mounted our flat screen over the opening.

[daycare]

ours is brick, so I don't know how we would drill into it without causing damage.

regarding your TV don't your DCKS touch the screen all the time

[MarinaVanessa]

Another provider I know just used a piece of plywood and glued/stapled felt to it and then just leaned it up against the fireplace to cover the opening. Then she bought a few of those little plastic bins with 3 drawers (the see through clear ones) and used those for storage. She lines them up along the length of the fireplace against the board which helps keep the board upright. She uses the exposed part of the felt above the drawers for her circle time/felt stories and keeps her felt story pieces in some of the drawers.

Another provider bought a sheet of smooth wood and sanded it down to a super smooth finish and then sealed it before painting it with chalkboard paint. Her DH added a nice piece of trim painted white and they put that over the opening. The DCK's love using the chalkboard. I think they secured it to the fireplace with some type of anchors.

I know another provider who already had a chalkboard so she used a sheet of metal and added trim to that and used it as a magnetic board for jumbo size letter magnets. She gets really creative and buys magnetic sheets that she can run through her color printer and she prints out magnets of all sorts of things and then cuts them out.

At a Provider Tour (our local R&R sets up a couple of FCC homes that we all caravan to and check out to get environment ideas) I saw a house where the DH made a small shelf that fit right inside the fireplace opening.

My mom used to keep her fish tank in the fireplace. That was pretty cool and looked very nice. Now that I think about it though I'm not sure how easy it was to clean though.

Another idea could be to put a non-breakable mirror in the opening. The mirrors I've seen can get pricey though but you're able to cut them (the ones made of plastic) to fit them to size. Would be nice for the babies.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I put a wooden school shelf (3 shelves high) in front of it.

[Sugar Magnolia]

I covered mine with a very large dry erase/magnetic board.

[Unregistered]

We got a large piece if plywood and painted it with black chalkboard paint. I love how it turned out

[daycare]

We got a large piece if plywood and painted it with black chalkboard paint. I love how it turned out

oh i love that idea....I think I am going to try the chalk board. that sounds fun

[Mom of 4]

Another provider I know just used a piece of plywood and glued/stapled felt to it and then just leaned it up against the fireplace to cover the opening. Then she bought a few of those little plastic bins with 3 drawers (the see through clear ones) and used those for storage. She lines them up along the length of the fireplace against the board which helps keep the board upright. She uses the exposed part of the felt above the drawers for her circle time/felt stories and keeps her felt story pieces in some of the drawers.

Another provider bought a sheet of smooth wood and sanded it down to a super smooth finish and then sealed it before painting it with chalkboard paint. Her DH added a nice piece of trim painted white and they put that over the opening. The DCK's love using the chalkboard. I think they secured it to the fireplace with some type of anchors.

I know another provider who already had a chalkboard so she used a sheet of metal and added trim to that and used it as a magnetic board for jumbo size letter magnets. She gets really creative and buys magnetic sheets that she can run through her color printer and she prints out magnets of all sorts of things and then cuts them out.

At a Provider Tour (our local R&R sets up a couple of FCC homes that we all caravan to and check out to get environment ideas) I saw a house where the DH made a small shelf that fit right inside the fireplace opening.

My mom used to keep her fish tank in the fireplace. That was pretty cool and looked very nice. Now that I think about it though I'm not sure how easy it was to clean though.

Another idea could be to put a non-breakable mirror in the opening. The mirrors I've seen can get pricey though but you're able to cut them (the ones made of plastic) to fit them to size. Would be nice for the babies.

I like the fish tank idea!!!

[MarinaVanessa]

I like the fish tank idea!!!

It looked WAY cool. My mom had tropical fish in really cool colors with colored rocks and plants and stuff. It looked really really nice. Her aquarium fit exactly perfect in the opening but I think she had a small wooden platform to make it flush with the front part of it. This was good because my kids couldn't put anything in the fish tank. She just pulled it out a little to lift the front lid flap to feed the fish everyday.

I think her tank always looked clean because she had a couple of plecostomus in it (algae eaters, ****er fish).

[NoMoreJuice!]

My basement fireplace had a huge brass insert in it with a fan and a sharp metal hood that poked out 6 inches about toddler forehead height. So immediately, we knew it had to go. My hubby bought 1/4" plywood and I sanded the heck out of it and painted it with chalkboard paint (then sanded again and painted again...lots of sanding).

Anyway, here's the result! We use it every day, love love love it!

[TwinKristi]

My dh is really handy (contractor by trade) so he built me a shelving unit that goes right over it. Ours is a rental and brick, but the way it's built and slides in under the mantle and over the bottom step piece, it doesn't have to be screwed in to the wall or brick. It was all stuff from Lowe's/HomeDepot so it's not hard to find or buy, but constructing it takes some skill but a handyman could do it easily. I've attached a pic, please excuse the clutter! We mounted a TV on the wall above it and nobody even knows it's a fireplace! LOL

[jenboo]

I built a shelf to put in front if it

[melonieb]

i have my love seat in from of mine. plus i use that space as storage for daycare clothes, since i have tons of them.