Easy Fireplace Filler Idea (with a Seasonal Upgrade!)

Do you have a fireplace? Our living room has a wonderful fireplace, but we don't use it to build fires. One of the reasons is that the chimney leaks a lot of cold air into the room. We considered a gas insert but it was mighty spendy! For now, we have a Chimney Balloon and a piece of foam insulation jammed up there to help keep out the cold.

That works for us, but we were left with a big black box. A few years ago, we were trimming our beloved birch tree (A white tree! How beautiful!) and I had Ben cut up the branches into logs to stack in the fireplace. The white pops off the black firebox and I think it looks cool, although the inside of the firebox could use a good cleaning and touch-up. Add it to the list!

The log rack was here when we bought the house and the birch logs cost us nothing, so this project was free!

I'm really happy with how it looks, but a few weeks ago, my mom passed along an idea and I was itching to try it. We were talking on FaceTime and she showed me a Pier 1 ad—there was a fireplace with logs (like ours), but around the logs were wrapped twinkly lights! It was so pretty!

So I picked up a strand of battery-operated LED lights at Target for $8. I kind of twisted and draped them over the logs and hid the on/off switch and battery pack somewhere I could access it easily.

It is such a fun idea for winter! If you want the feel of a blazing fire (okay, it's not even close to that strong) add some twinkly lights to a pile of logs. The ambiance is really pretty at night.

Thanks to Pier 1 and my mom for this great idea! I'll take pretty much any opportunity to add twinkly lights to the situation. I am so glad my mom passed it along, so I wanted to pass it along to you. Give it a go!