Her dance is hypnotizing and calls forth the wild within. The smoke from the sweet woodsy aroma curls its finger through your  hair and entices you to come close. Kicking off your shoes and shrugging out of your coat you succumb to the heat.

It’s officially fall. Which means…fireplace season begins.

Being from New England typically in the next few weeks half a cord or a cord of wood is delivered to your door. This wood is not to heat the house for the winter…but if a nasty blizzard came to shove-so be it.

Our fireplace burned nearly all day on the weekends. It was for ambiance, aroma, and anamnesis.

Living here in the South you would think fireplaces would be hard to come by-nope. Every apartment, condo, or home I have lived in here in Georgia over the past twenty years had one.

My current home has two-neither one is useable.

And this pisses me off.  I would enjoy my favorite black and white room in the basement more if it were not so cold down there in the winter. I would ditch the ugly electric heater and stay curled up by the fire.

We learned after closing the big main fireplace in the family room has a crack in the chimney liner and was advised not to use it until it was repaired. Needless to say ten years later that home repair project has been kicked down the ladder so many times it has stopped trying to climb its way up.

In case you have a fireplace you don’t use because of small children, you don’t want to deal with the mess, or its broken. Today I’m sharing nine decorating ideas for an unusable fireplace.

9  decorating ideas for an unused fireplace

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Genius idea from the editors of Domino magazine. Mirror was cut to fit the fireplace box then mirrored vases and balls placed in front for a reflective focal point.

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Why let an unused fireplace and its surround eat up valuable real estate in your room?  This brilliant homeowner places a storage cabinet in front of the fireplace to display their pottery collection. You could do the same with a bookcase or another shallow piece of furniture.

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These hackers set their unused fireplace ablaze and turned this corner fireplace into a built-in bookcase and entertainment center using Ikea furniture…hello!

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Stacked wood is always a good idea. These homeowners DIY project for their faux fireplace was well done!

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Party on! Got a disco ball on hand? Use it to add some reflective light into you dark, unused fireplace.  Glass mercury balls will work too.

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Like Paris…candles are always a good idea. The battery operated faux candles that flicker are a fine alternative. Putting a mirror behind the candles will also help to bounce the light around the room for an amazing focal point.

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Reading fireside is one of my favorite things to do. But enough book storage is the bane of my existence, so to turn an unused fireplace into a bookshelf gets a heck yeah in my book.

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Its pumpkin season and I love the idea of filling an unused fireplace with decorated pumpkins-no carving needed.  I have aspirations of doing a variation on this theme this year.  We will see.

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Natural elements of branches, pinecones, and other found or faux elements make for a great fall/winter display.  I do a variation of this idea with twinkle lights.

If your fireplace is working or non-working I hope these 9  decorating ideas for  your unused fireplace inspire you to make it a focal point. You can use, plants, moss, mirrors, books, suitcases, found objects or take back the space and convert it to a bookcase or bookshelves, or pet bed.