The "Hearth Bed"

The latest Hearth Bed

The original Hearth Bed

Hubby and I bought our first house when we got married. One of our favorite things about it was the wood-burning fireplace in the family room. It had an arched opening, which was echoed by the rounded, raised brick hearth in front of it. It was very pretty, but when baby #1 came along, we wanted to keep him safe from falling against it and getting hurt. There are many plastic or foam pads available, but they aren't very pretty, so I decided to make a fabric pad for our fireplace. I made my own pattern by tracing the hearth on brown paper bags taped together. I used inexpensive home dec fabric from Joann's and lined it with a sturdy upholstery type fabric. Inside, I used 1" high-density foam to pad it. I trimmed the edges with a decorative cording. The whole pad sits on top of the hearth and the weight keeps it in place. It doesn't need any fasteners. When we built our new house, we had the builder copy our old fireplace (so we could use our custom doors); however, the hearth turned out a little bigger, so I had to make Hearth Bed #2. Why do we call it that? Because all of the kids have enjoyed lying on the soft, padded surface...and none of the 5 kids has ever been injured on the bricks (yet!).