No roast swan for me, thanks.

February 14, 2009 8:08 PM

I would like some tips on how to find or make a fireplace screen that is no wider than 23" and no taller than 27" for under $100 or so.

I've resolved the problem of what to put in my fake fireplace, and bought a gel fuel firelog set. Now I need a screen for the fire place. Gel fuel doesn't spark, but my concern is that if I leave the fire "open", especially when it's in such a shallow opening (6"), it will be all too easy for something like a skirt hem to swish in there. But I can't seem to find a screen in my budget and price range.

I've called and visited the main fireplace stores in Toronto and been told that standard screens are 30" inches wide or larger and that I can't even get one of those for $100, much less have something custom made.

So I'm thinking perhaps I could make one. Surely it would be possible to get some kind of decorative grill and clamp/solder it into some kind of "feet" so it's free standing? Alternatively, if I could get three small decorative grills, the could be fastened them together to make a folding free standing screen. I do stained glass and although a stained glass screen would look gorgeous with the firelight behind it, I do worry about extreme likelihood that it would get knocked over and smashed sooner or later.

So I turn to you people. Any thoughts on how to make or find a 23" fireplace screen for under $100? Where can I find decorative grills? I scoured Home Depot last night for naught.

posted by orange swan to home & garden (6 comments total)

Some hardware stores have a variety of perforated metal— the last one I remember having a reasonable selection was an Ace Hardware, not a Home Depot, but it seems to vary a lot on a store-by-store basis. It seems to me you could buy some of the more decorative perforated metal and solder it into a frame.
posted by hattifattener at 8:18 PM on February 14

Whatever materials you use could be put together using JB Weld. It withstands up to 500 F (not sure how hot a gel fire gets.)

1/8 inch hardware cloth might be good to cover a frame with. It might look nifty if you turned on the diagonal and painted it black. If not this stuff, then other material made for covering exterior soffit vents.

If chain-link fences are common in your area, you might be able to put together a frame from the thin strips that are used to join two pieces of the fencing. They're about 3/4 inch wide and flat. You could cut a 5 ft piece with a hacksaw. I'd definitely paint this black. It's kind of ugly otherwise.

Finally, for decoration, you could get some aluminum sheet and cut out groovy shapes with sissors. I bought some of this at Michael's a few years ago. I'm not sure if they still sell it.

(Damn, I have everything for this in my garage and spare room.)
posted by zinfandel at 8:54 PM on February 14

The hardware stores around here have cheap four-segment screens that can easily be modified to be two (or three) segment. It's just some rods that unscrew. I bought one a couple months ago for about $40.
posted by rhizome at 9:10 PM on February 14

get a bunch of wire coathangers at value village, and spend a relaxing afternoon with a pair of pliers weaving your own. You will probably need a few bricks or something at the bottom to weigh it down... or maybe some interesting bits of cast iron found at a junk shop.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 3:03 PM on February 15

I just had a brainstorm about my fireplace screen.

As I mentioned, I would love to make a stained glass fireplace screen, but it seems extremely likely that a glass screen will get knocked over and smashed.

My brainstorm was this: what if I made folding hinged stained glass doors, rather than a free standing screen? Here’s how it would work… Basically, I’d make two six inch wide "side" panels and two 11” wide "front" panels. I would hinge a six-inch panel to each side of the fireplace itself, and then to the open side of the six-inch panel hinge on an 11" panel. The two 11” panels could have some sort of catch on them so the two panels could be latched closed. I could then fold the panels back to open the fireplace and attend to the fire, and close it when it’s in operation. I would make the stained glass in some sort of openwork lattice style rather than in a solid style to let the heat from the fire escape.

The stained glass panel would then be in no risk of being knocked over. It still might get broken, of course, if something bangs into it hard enough, but it's not all that likely something would.

Well, it's an idea. I'm going to think about the design some more and also keep an eye out for alternatives screen ideas.
posted by orange swan at 10:50 AM on February 20

I've talked to a stained glass supply owner about the folding screen idea. He said it wouldn't work. Hinges for stained glass won't support several pounds of glass. He recommended I make whatever kind of screen I want, and then get a wrought iron frame made for it. I'll likely be doing that.
posted by orange swan at 11:39 AM on April 15