When the Fireplace is not used?

We have a fireplace in this old cottage. It gets used maybe once or twice during the year. We live in Florida. When the day comes where its cold enough for a fire, its like a Christmas day. The fires are beautiful, relaxing, hypnotizing muses, and I love them. But here, 99% of the time, the fireplace is not used, and I have to get creative in finding ways to make an unused fireplace look like more than just a blackened ashy pit. This picture is with a flash and the overhead lighting on which I never use so it is much brighter, no sense in showing you a picture of just a dark pit.

I have grand ideas for it, but the cost is not feasible at this time. So again, I had to find a way to make it look nice without the $, with what I had, and to be able to keep it that way regularly. I remember I had put some cuttings of white plumbago in a vase in there and it was beautiful, but then again, almost anything is better than a black ashy pit. :D
So I went ahead and began cleaning it out, and yes I did sing the song Chim Chiminy Chim Chiminy Chim Chim Cheru .

I decided on simple, which always works. A vase of white flowers with candles using what glass I had around doing nothing, and added candles of what was on hand. I added some shimmery silvery 6 inch ribbon to 2 of the vases for a nice glow. But this is it for now. By the time I was done, the light coming through the chimney lit the floor of the fireplace which was nice.