Help! Quick! No Privacy in two-sided gas fireplace! You can see through from the Sitting Room to the Bedroom!?
Question:Quick! The Stone Masons are coming and I want to resolve this before they get started, but noone can give me a good solution. Besides a freestanding screen, what can I do for privacy? I have moved into a house with a two-sided gas fireplace that you can see straight through from the sitting room to bedroom! (stone on sitting room side and marble/wood mantle on the bedroom side) I don't know what the builders were thinking...possibly that they would never have nosey children running around the house and that whoever might buy the house after they were finished with it wouldn't have children either.
Answers:
I'm not 100% sure this would work but how about high temperature paint(used for painting car parts and other things)? If you can get it to adhere to the glass it should be able to handle the heat. I would recommend going with a black paint otherwise it going to look bad from the soot of fires.
What's wrong with a free standing screen on your side of the room?? Yeah, that house should have been mine, no kids. I would find a way.
How about window tint in an extremely dark shade? They work great for windows! Just check and see if it is safe to use near heat. Or maybe you just don't use the fireplace while the tint is up. It's self adhesive and very simple to cut and put up. Hardware stores carry it for around $30.00 a roll. (will cover two patio doors). Just cut to size and adhere. :)
How sloppy of the contractor!
What if one had no kids but a visitor visiting on the couch?
Why dint they have a double flue thingy in there? Where it looks like one fireplace but it is actually two.Fireplaces these days are only for looks anyhow.
Good luck with whatever way you choose to fix this.
Again sloppy contractor!!
I wish I could be of more help but I think a free staning screen is the only safe option. Unless the fireplace is a foot or so off the ground and a free standing screen wont cover it, I see nothing wrong with one. I think the only way to completely gaurentee privacy to to eliminate one side. It could be expensive, but I dont see many good options.
I've never heard of someone doing a two sided fire place from a bedroom into a public space like that. I've only seen them in master suits from bedroom to bathroom. Or in two public spaces.
If the fireplace opening is enclosed in glass, how about floor to ceiling drapes on the bedroom side that could be closed when privacy is needed and open when not? With the right treatment it could make a nice decorative touch in the bedroom. Otherwise a free standing screen would be the only way to go. Even with that you have the option of a small one to only cover the opening or a larger floor standing bi-fold kind. Another possibility would be a large plant.
Wow what a tough one! They do have so really nice stained glass free-standing trifold firescreens and they also have the more permanent fireplace enclosures with tempered glass which would be good for small children. I hope this helps Good Luck :-)
More Related Questions & Answers...