When you have a fireplace, various accessories are practical while others are more decorative. Many people will have a mixture of both.

Fireplace pokers, brooms, and shovels

These three accessories will usually sell as a set with a storage container in which to hold them when they are not being used. These can be for decorative or practical usage. If you have a fireplace that burns wood, then these would be a practical purchase. To remove the ashes from the grate in the fireplace you would use the shovel. It would also act like a dustpan so you would have some place to sweep the ashes into when you cleaned the fireplace. The pokers will let you rearrange safely the burning wood to restart the fire when it starts to burn down.

Fireplace screens

These are set in front of the fireplace so they can the larger embers from popping out into the room or on the hearth. Most fireplaces that are functional do have built in doors and sliding screens. The electric or non-functioning fireplaces will generally utilize a screen as more of a decorative accessory. A fireplace screen is typically tri-fold stands. They could be plain or elaborately designed and some even have stain glass inserts.

Bellows

This is one fireplace accessory that some consider a nostalgic accessory. When a fireplace was used as the entire heat source of a home, the fire needed to stay burning during the day. They used a bellow to blow air gently into the flame to help keep the wood burning. Using bellows was simpler and easier than blowing into the fire to keep it going. Some people may still find this accessory a useful tool if they like to keep a continuous fire.

Ashbins and buckets

These two accessories are used for practical reasons and not for decorative accessories. The buckets act as a place to store wood neatly near the fireplace to be burned. The ashbins, which could be a bucket, are what are used to store ashes after cleaning the fireplace before you dump them.

In conclusion

When you purchase any fireplace accessories make sure that you know what use they are intended for, especially if you have a functioning fireplace and need them for practical uses. If you are buying fireplace accessories for decoration only, get what you like but make sure that you do not buy too many accessories and make the front of your fireplace look crowded and unattractive. Make sure that what you purchased can be used for practical reasons and not decorative pieces. The reason is that some of the fireplace accessories material are not fire-grade and could catch fire or melt easily.