It’s all well and good having a wonderful working fireplace in the winter months when you can light a fire and get cosy, but how do you make your antique fireplace stand out once the warmer weather arrives?

Once you’ve cleared out the grate and disposed of all your ash from your winter fires, you can use the fireplace opening itself as something of a display space.

It can be a great spot to put a striking vase that you fill with beautiful flowers as the spring and summer go by, allowing you to keep it as a focal point in your living room even when it’s not being used for its intended purpose.

If you’d rather not use cut flowers, pick a pot plant that suits the size of your fireplace and position that in there instead.

Another alternative is to use the fireplace for practical as well as aesthetic purposes. If you’ve still got cut wood logs left over from the winter, stack them neatly in the grate to create an interesting feature and keep your wood dry until it’s needed when the weather turns.

Candles are also a good option if you’d like to make more of your fireplace at this time of year. Choose a selection of candles in different sizes to create a cascading effect, or mix it up with a couple of different colours that complement the decor in your living room.

You could also invest in a pretty screen to hide your fireplace from view during the summer. This might be an especially good option if you haven’t got around to cleaning it properly after the winter.