Paint a sheet or 2 of plywood with chalkboard paint, and mount it so it covers the fireplace.

we survived with chipped teeth and scars on our chins. i decided to do better with my own kids without helicoptering too much.

i agree parking the couch there is the best idea. anything else looks awfulish, and a day will come when sanity is returned to your home, and the space once again becomes a dining area.

My daughter runs on sofas so I'd prefer her playspace to be as stree free as possible!

As my mother-in-law used to say (God rest her sole) "sofas are for sitting not running".

There are baby fences for items like that, check online. We have a wood stove and engineered an old wire dog crate as a fence around it to keep the baby from touching it.

I knew a family that got a piece of foam insulation board and fit it into the fireplace as it was drafty and the mounted a nice print picture to the front. Safe, soft, inexpensive and quickly removable.

We have a raised hearth which I was terrified of them falling and bumping their head on so we installed one of these:

Kim k, that is exactly what i was thinking.

If you really want to amp up the space as a true play room, you could get a large piece of insulated foam board to screw into the wall so the brick is completely covered (should be easy to patch and paint later). Cover the foam board with felt, and it's a learning board! You can cut out letters, numbers, shapes, animals, etc from felt to stick on it, and it it becomes a great tool for learning and storytelling.

In thinking more about your space, I notice it is really large space. Perhaps it could be more of a multi-use space for whole family just with focus on playroom. Hate to see spaces be under utilized. I will search a bit for inspiration photos for you.

You could use furniture pieces to put in front of the fireplace and keep little hands, etc away. This space has lots of fun places to put toys etc. small scale furniture works to teach organization skills. My only change to this is to not have carpet. But you have beautiful wood floors so some nice carpet tiles where needed would help with noise control and soften space up.A desk arrangement in front of fireplace could work too. Also, notice the carpet squares that are great for kid spaces. Easy to clean and/or replace. A large table in your space coupled with the kid friendly play items and some storage/organizational cubbies would be neat in your space. Cool chairs and built-in bed situations.Another wall unit that could be designed for in front of your fireplace that could be moved later if desired. Those are some ideas for your playroom space.

The easiest solution is to not make that a playroom. It's a much to permanent solution for a very temporary phase. Kids that are small won't use it unless you are there with them all the time. Those are still ripe for playpens. Bigger kids will want to be in their rooms. Even bigger kids will want nothing to do with anything or anybody and sulk in their rooms.

I think it's great that you have the extra space to create a play area. Make a shallow box that fits over the whole fireplace. Cover it with foam or batting, then a piece of felt. As tallgrass said, make it into a learning center. Use a couple of L-brackets to hold it in place.

I can't help but notice that gorgeous floor!

I second what scveenhof said! I was just about to say I love your beautiful floor!

Since it's temporary you could just cover it with strips of 5" thick foam (not latex rubber, but the manmade kind). Jo Ann Fabrics has these, they are not horribly expensive, and they will cut them to whatever length you need. If you are feeling especially ambitious you could easily "upholster" it yourself. One way to attach it to the wall would be a screw-eye into the wall, and a piece of thin but strong rope threaded through a hole in the foam, tied into the screw-eye. Not too elegant, but effective and easy to do.

Have you considered using it as a childs playhouse? Not sure how old your child is but since you are going to cover it up in some way anyway it might be fun for a toddler to have a draped castle for your medieval knight or a princess throne room. It would be simple enough to pad with knobs to string the pads from and probobly more interesting than a coverup that is only a bumper. Is the dining room in good view of the kitchen or tv watching area? It would make a good play space.

JSE

The wall part isn't going to be an issue. For the hearth, cover it with bean bags or huge fuzzy friends they can lay on to read. We have a fireplace, used frequently, in our livingroom, and managed to get our child through unscathed without padding and gating everything off. Teach them that area is for reading and not rough-housing and they'll be fine. Kids are smarter than people give them credit for. Another idea is a kid-sized table and chairs right in front, again big fuzzy friend on each hearth corner if those corners worry you.

large dog-bed on the hearth may cover it up well too.

Turned the formal (unused) living room into a workout/playroom. IKEA furniture sits on the raised hearth.

I have seen many home improvement shows that used MDF boards to build a fireplace surround - you just build it to fit over the brick (attach securely to walls of course) and then remove it when you want to sell or change from play room.

I have seen many home improvement shows that used MDF boards to build a fireplace surround - you just build it to fit over the brick (attach securely to walls of course) and then remove it when you want to sell or change from play room. Try Googling Christopher Lowell...he used MDF for all sorts of creative things.

Many years ago we had a very small home, little ones and almost no living room furniture, so our living room became the play room for those first few years. We used a cheap solution to keep the kids out of the firplace box. We acquired a large applaince box (we used the box our washer came in). We painted and decorated it to look like a castle ( son's choice) cut a small door, put a coved foam pad ( think bench pad) and small pillows inside. It went right in front. Our son, toddler daughter and the dog all loved it! In a few years, easily sent out in trash/recycle and the pillows and pad found new uses.

you could replace the brick with tile; Chn to ethanol fireplace

you could replace the brick with tile; Chn to ethanol fireplace

I wonder if a pool noodle could be put on the corner of the bricks facade. That would eliminate the potential for bumping into the corner where they are most likely to get injured. Especially since you mentioned this was temporary and would add to the point playroom feel.

We have two fireplaces on our main floor the one with the christmas stuff is the family room gas fire place.. we moved into this house in Dec 2015 at that time my kids were 2 and 1.. in the 'toy room' we have a wood burning fire place similar in design with the bricks but has a step up.. We haven't used the fireplace in the toy room but have not had any issues with the kids no injuries, in fact I put toys on the ledge and they play with things and sit up there. . Based on my experience the bricks around the fireplaces have not been an issue at all. If you decide to use it then I may say do some precautionary measures for safety. Hope this helps :-)

I have a raised brick hearth around my fireplace and was very concerned as my boys are wild and I thought they'd split their heads open! (My aunt had a friend who's young boy died when he hit his temple on their sharp coffee table, so she wanted me to wrap my fireplace, too). I listened! I measured and designed a plywood box to go around it, my husband is handy and he built it while I went shopping for some thick foam batting material and a pretty fabric. I just took a staple gun and attached the material to the ply and it fits so snugly that they couldn't remove it (they ripped the "protective" edge and corner strips right off). It's been on for 3 years now, still looks great! I didn't need to do the top part, as I wasn't as concerned there, but instead placed a few decorative pillows that can be easily removed when we want to use the fireplace. With a couple of "L" brackets and some foam/fabric wrapped plywood, you could easily turn this into a decorative bit of fabric- use felt so that your little ones can take felt cut outs and turn this into an art wall. I did stuff like that all over my kids playroom (aka, our formal living room!) Chalk board, white magnetic board, rock climbing wall!!! and felt cut outs, reading nook, we have a slide and a dress up area. My room is about half the size of yours, it's going to be awesome! You're a great mom :)

Hi ehollabaugh, I didn't read through all your suggestions, first thing that came to my mind was getting 2 outdoor settee seating cushions and turning the fireplace into a seating area for kids. You would use one cushion for the seat and fasten the other to the wall on either side of the fireplace so it is like the back of a sofa. Hope this makes sense. If you need to raise the seat up you could use 2 or make a wood platform 2-3 in for under the seat cushion. Add bright animal or flower throw pillows and it's now kid friendly! Most of these cushions have ties to secure them to patio furniture so you could use the ties to secure them from sliding around and suspend the back so it stays put. Being outdoor fabric should make it easy to keep clean too! Of course it's important to have the fireplace childproof locked and/or a smooth wood panel securely closing the opening that can be painted with kid type art. Have fun creating a childhood sanctuary!

Here are a couple from Houzz Shop $42

The fence in front of the fireplace would be a magnet for climbers, so I would reconsider that idea. Putting a sofa in front of it would create a cool hiding space behind it...still no solution. I would just put up drywall across the width expanse, securing it with metal screw eyes and latches to the opposing walls. Then paint it with chalk paint, and trimming it with cheap MDF for a better appearance. Easy to remove and a bit of spackle will fill in the screw holes. You'll repaint the room after the children have left, anyway.

Ddelora, I guess you missed the part where I said they would need to securely close the fireplace open, not create a cool hiding place. I'd recommend you read more carefully before criticizing.

I think you are over thinking and over worrying. Supervision and instruction are financially inexpensive solutions. They do require an investment of time and attention.

Get an old dresser and cut away the back or lose the bottom drawer so it can go all the way to the back of the wall. Decorate it and enjoy the extra storage. Use magnet paint on the drawer fronts or side for letter magnets. Maybe lose another drawer and put books on the "open" shelves....

not sure if you settled this yet. we have a very similar situation in our living room. we have put furniture in front of it. right now we have two identical long bookshelves side by side. prior to that we had two ikea furniture pieces that we used to hold toys. Ikea sells bins to fit them. we got the cheapest ones, which were a black suede-like covered cardboard that have held up reasonably well. it has a different look than the shelves with colorful bins at a slant. depends on what you're looking for. i like that it looks like furniture rather than a toy organizer. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60275812/

Shira, we have two on those already! We may just use that for now. Glad to hear it's working for you!

I think the chalkboard covering suggested from the beginning makes the most sense. The fireplace is pretty flat so it should look fine. U get sick of all the kids artwork they do n u just erase it when company comes. Lol. :)

You didn't say how old your children are - I gather they are quite young. In every house we have lived in (rented or owned) we have had a fireplace. I've never covered it and my kids have left it alone after an initial inspection, as it's not really that interesting to them. However, I know exactly the kind of tiles you are talking about and understand your concerns.

My experience is to get a toy kitchen and put it in front of the fireplace. It's a well loved play area. I did the same as above, just bought a suitable old dresser and put pots and pans, cups, plates, utensils etc on it. From a Waldorf background I can tell you it's better to have "less" (in terms of it not being so OBVIOUSLY a toy kitchen) because they will turn it into so many more things and use their imagination more freely.

Other option is to get the Ikea block shelves which are excellent at holding toys. I've used ours in kids bedrooms and kids play rooms, depending on space (I have four children). You will need to secure it to the wall so they don't climb it (if you get the bigger 4x4 unit). They are very versatile.

In every house (over 18years we've lived in 5) I have always had a play room. It is my sanity. I can close the door on the playroom if I don't have the energy to help guide the children to tidy up (especially when they are young) and their bedroom has always stayed tidy and a place for rest and relaxation (bedtime, reading stories, quiet play away from siblings). The Ikea bookcase is very helpful in terms of assisting children to put toys back in designated spaces.

Post a pic when you've finished the room! :)

Here is the latest!! I even added the foam protectors on the sides.

Well, this is an easy fix. A long time ago, they used to have "grates" that went around the fireplaces for that exact reason. Not to mention, you can also use the fireplace on cold days.

yay! my favorite part of the room is teddy peeking his head out of the gray bag in the corner. enioy the room.

Your concern is understandable, but I really don't think you need to worry. Child-proofing is largely unnecessary in most houses, barring the obvious medicine and cleaning product security, and children always manage to injure themselves on the things you didn't think were a risk. I wouldn't touch the fireplace.

Out a cool screen with fun fabric on it and put a couch In Front of it

You can get a fireplace childproof screen and enjoy your fireplace without worries... they also have childproof heart pads which are naturally made from flame retardant foam without added chemicals.