Fire place screens are perfect for both protecting your kids and family members from the hearth, and at the same time add beauty and life to your living room. These screens function well in their respective duties, both as separators from would-be fireplace explorers and as decorators of the central converging place that is your living room.
The fireplace has been a major architectural element in homes and residences since the ancient times. The modern world, though advanced in its heating technology, still accommodates traditional styles of fireplace construction. These are quite common in rural areas and countryside where winter cold often falls. Since people obviously need a place to keep themselves warm, the hearth became a major element in home construction.
Due to practicality and the costs of building a fireplace (which is almost always built with a chimney), households were limited to building a single hearth inside the home. As a result, the fireplace was a popular area around the house for family members to gather and talk about life and everything, and a meeting place for important family occasions. During the winter months, families would huddle together for warmth near the fireplace, cementing family ties and enhancing relationships.
At the same time, the fireplace presented a potential fire hazard for the family and home. Energetic kids can become irritably exploration and will try to poke around the fireplace finding stuff. Fireplaces, if left unattended, will collect an unhealthy amount of soot, dust, and ashes around its vicinity in the living room. Dogs and pets can be terribly curious with the smells of the furnace. Hearths that are poorly cared for will certainly have dormant embers and charcoal still red hot. With the right circumstances, these will, no doubt, contribute to the destruction of a home.
Yet even in the early times, people knew the dangers associated with having fires inside their houses. Fire place screens were then invented in order to keep fire sparks from spreading outside the hearth, to regulate the warmth inside the room, and of course, to serve as a protective barrier for children. Outside of winter, when fireplaces were not used, screens were utilized to cover the blackened cavity of the hearth. It eventually served as a decorative component in many living rooms, evolving from simple practical designs of ancient Europe to the incredibly intricate and ornamented screens of the Victorian era.
The modern times have seen these screens serve the dual purposes of protection and decoration. In the past, it used to be that people were content stretching leather over metal stands. Now, screens are usually expected to match the colors and theme of the living room walls and fireplace. Oftentimes, the screens would only be installed just for eye candy.
There are many types of screens that can be bought from fireplace retailers today, ranging from simple glass screens to screens with intricate metallic art designs. Some even function as fully-fledged gates, while others are for decoration purposes only. Whatever design you choose, fire place screens are a must for any fireplace functions.
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