I love my house. I love my 2 fireplaces. I don't love the sharp edges with 5
crazy kids. I started looking around for some protective padding for the
edges of my fireplaces after my toddler hit his head and had to get 5 stitches. :O( Everything I found was more than I
wanted to or could afford to spend. Then one day I thought, HEY! I bet I could use our pool
noodles for padding and the idea blossomed from there. Here's how I did
it:
My living room finished product:
My family room fireplace before:
Items needed:
- pool noodles (I used the ones I already had, there are nicer ones out there than others. Mine are a little thicker than some I've seen.) I used 2 noodles per fireplace and they were approximately 4 feet in length.
- Velcro tape, I found this Scotch brand tape at Wal-Mart for $9.99ish for 6 feet of tape, which was enough for my 2 fireplaces.
- scissors, mine are utility type. You could use a box cutter too if that would be easier.
- cut approx. 1/4 of the noodle off.
- cut the velcro tape into approx. 3-4 inch strips.
- peel the backing off the Velcro strips and stick them to the noodle. I stick the "pokier" side to the noodle so the "softer" side is on the fireplace, in case you take the noodles off for some reason, so it's not scratchy. Makes sense, right?? ;O)
- stick the other side of the Velcro strip onto the fireplace according to where you placed it on the noodle, might take some adjusting to get it right. Thankfully the tape is pretty forgiving.
- stick the noodle onto the Velcro on the fireplace edge. Voila! Padded fireplace edge! :O)
I
padded the sides of the fireplace edge too, as you can see below, Velcro
all the way around. Just takes a little measuring/guesstimating. :O)
Finished product:
After I did this on my living room fireplace I did the family room fireplace "fancier" by making the colors even. Not like the green and yellow on the other fireplace. I tweaked as I went along. You could use noodles of the same color, I just used what I had. :O)
