What do you keep in your fireplace?

[cookingfat]

We usually have an open fire, but cba this year, as DD is almost on the move. It looks a bit empty, and I'd like something cheap but attractive.
We have another fireplace filled with fir cones, but I imagine they'll go once DD discovers the joy of removing them .
It's black, cast iron with wooden mantel.

I have a very large, extremely cobwebbed arrangement of coal all ready to be lit

I have dreams of a lovely woodburner or a beautiful arrangement of dried flowers in it.

We keep a collection of DS2's books in our fireplaces. They're like bookcases to us.

Big pillar candles at the moment.

Downstairs, the boiler stove. Upstairs the fireplaces are not usable they are just there. There is nothing in the dcs's one but it is still connected to teh chimney the stive uses and gets a bit sooty. The charming dcs still think "cleaning" it is a good form of play. Ours has some candles in that get poked and bashed by the dcs. I don't think there is anything you can possibly put in a fireplace that won't get attention. The only one they don't touch is the downstairs because they know it is hot.

Sadly we are never allowed to use ours as we rent and no one wants the liability if something goes tits up.

So being huge inglenook type ones, one has a large old wooden cupboard in it, and the other has two old trunks on top of each other, filled with stuff we don't need to access very much.

we used to have a real fire. When our DS started moving and exploring we stuffed a nice big cushion in it to fill the sooty gap. Before that he would always head to it emerging with sooty fingers.

We have had a real fire every autumn/winter alongside having four kids. We always had an extending frame fire-guard around when they were very small. So I would suggest you continue as normal. Other than that, I would suggest pillar candles.

Our fireplace is blocked up with a recess where the fire would be. I alternatively keep in it a Noah's ark with wooden animals, or DD1 - who now only just fits but refuses to stop sitting there. Hopefully your's will look better than mine!