Turn Your Fireplace Into a Year-Round Standout
Winter's firewood has been put away, but there's no reason your fireplace need be an eyesore during the warmer months
Embarking on a fireplace revamp now that winter is over is not as odd as it sounds. While the fire is blazing and attention is focused on the warmth around the hearth, you can overlook less-than-appealing fireplace surrounds. But with the onset of warmer days and nights, and the fireplace just a black hole in the wall once more, it’s time to critically look at how it could become a strong and elegant feature, year round. Here are some of my favourite ideas to get you started.
Tiles make for a clean and modern surface. Try shapes that can be laid in a diagonal pattern to create movement, texture and interest in the space, or you can use darker colours, or mix texture and pattern.
A textured tile adds another layer of detail. If you use a stronger texture or patterned tile, it works better if the colour is more neutral, as both a bright colour and texture can be too much on the eye and look overdone.
The textured tiles will really stand out if you light it from above to create more shadow play on the wall. There are reasonably priced LED recessed light options that can be tilted. Get your electrician to install three or four immediately above the header and tilt the light towards the tiles to highlight their texture. Install standard downlights close to the header (to a maximum of 150 millimetres away) to achieve a full downlit zone over the tiles without creating a shadow at the top.
The textured tiles will really stand out if you light it from above to create more shadow play on the wall. There are reasonably priced LED recessed light options that can be tilted. Get your electrician to install three or four immediately above the header and tilt the light towards the tiles to highlight their texture. Install standard downlights close to the header (to a maximum of 150 millimetres away) to achieve a full downlit zone over the tiles without creating a shadow at the top.
Dark grout makes a textured tile stand out as even more of a feature. When you are choosing colours and textures, think carefully about other feature pieces in the room – will the tones work with the new fireplace finish?
2. Steel yourself
Steel is a fantastic material to play with and you can easily create some amazing skins to lay over existing outdated fireplaces. Make friends with a steel engineer and create something together: I’ve learnt that they love getting creative as a welcome change from making boring structural steel beams for buildings. I love going to the steel yards and looking at the offcuts and construction leftovers and thinking about how I could use them. Steel panel overlay offers a solid, masculine impression in the living space.
To achieve this look, have your steel engineer use ‘blue’ corten steel, sealed to prevent the steel from rusting. A builder can create the framing behind the steel to house the fire and apply a sheet product before the steel is installed over this. Try creating a negative detail between the sheets for a more elegant finish.
Tip: The key to this working is that the steel must be handled with gloves until it’s sealed with beeswax or other sealants, as if your finger oils transfer prints onto the blue steel they cannot be removed.
Steel is a fantastic material to play with and you can easily create some amazing skins to lay over existing outdated fireplaces. Make friends with a steel engineer and create something together: I’ve learnt that they love getting creative as a welcome change from making boring structural steel beams for buildings. I love going to the steel yards and looking at the offcuts and construction leftovers and thinking about how I could use them. Steel panel overlay offers a solid, masculine impression in the living space.
To achieve this look, have your steel engineer use ‘blue’ corten steel, sealed to prevent the steel from rusting. A builder can create the framing behind the steel to house the fire and apply a sheet product before the steel is installed over this. Try creating a negative detail between the sheets for a more elegant finish.
Tip: The key to this working is that the steel must be handled with gloves until it’s sealed with beeswax or other sealants, as if your finger oils transfer prints onto the blue steel they cannot be removed.
Here a steel shell has been created to overlay the existing traditional fireplace box. I suspect that the original brick veneer detailing around the fire will be hidden behind the steel, something a skilled tradesperson can do, saving on demolition and removal. The breathing or ventilation holes centred over the fire area are a nice detail that can be added with a simple round drill. The entire steel box shape will be cut from steel sheets with the return back to the wall made by either folding steel sheets, or welded if you would like a more industrial feel.
A simple timber trim along the top creates the mantelpiece, a terrific way to complement the steel. Decorate with pieces of graphic art or raw, simple pieces in timber, unfinished metals, bone, antiques or industrial pieces.
A simple timber trim along the top creates the mantelpiece, a terrific way to complement the steel. Decorate with pieces of graphic art or raw, simple pieces in timber, unfinished metals, bone, antiques or industrial pieces.
3. Raise the bar
When you lift the fireplace onto a raised platform rather than sitting it on the floor, you give it a sense of elegance. Extending the hearth the full width of the wall offers an opportunity to create a place to display items, or even add a few cushions for casual perching. Elevating the fire also makes it more dominant in the room. Here, a builder has created a long line of hearth and box made in situ from concrete.
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When you lift the fireplace onto a raised platform rather than sitting it on the floor, you give it a sense of elegance. Extending the hearth the full width of the wall offers an opportunity to create a place to display items, or even add a few cushions for casual perching. Elevating the fire also makes it more dominant in the room. Here, a builder has created a long line of hearth and box made in situ from concrete.
Browse more contemporary living room photos
Blocks can also be used cleverly, or a stonemason can create an elevated stone plinth in stacked stone.
4. Disappearing act
If you’d rather your fireplace blended in, paint out the existing fireplace in the same tones as the wall. This is most successful when the fireplace has some architecture to it, and the feature becomes the striking artwork above.
11 fabulous fireside fillers
If you’d rather your fireplace blended in, paint out the existing fireplace in the same tones as the wall. This is most successful when the fireplace has some architecture to it, and the feature becomes the striking artwork above.
11 fabulous fireside fillers
A lot of older houses have brick or brick veneer fireplace surrounds, which can look quite dated. Instead of removing the bricks and building a whole new fireplace, you can simply bag the bricks. This rendered finish is very Scandinavian but it fits in nicely with many interior styles.
An even easier way to modernise your fireplace is simply to paint unsightly bricks black.
5. Make magic with mirrors
Mirrors and fireplaces go hand in hand, as they create a sense of space in the room. In Nanna’s day, this might have meant a mirror over the mantelpiece, but two beautiful long-length mirrors either side can create a more modern feeling of opulence, space and elegance. The fireplace is framed and the room feels larger and grander. Framed, free-hanging mirrors can be made by a picture framer, or a glass installer can line an entire wall or recess, edge to edge, with mirror.
Tip: Side tables in front of the mirrors can add a place to display items and add another layer of grandeur. Try finely detailed slim or metal side tables for an elegant, barely-there effect.
Mirrors and fireplaces go hand in hand, as they create a sense of space in the room. In Nanna’s day, this might have meant a mirror over the mantelpiece, but two beautiful long-length mirrors either side can create a more modern feeling of opulence, space and elegance. The fireplace is framed and the room feels larger and grander. Framed, free-hanging mirrors can be made by a picture framer, or a glass installer can line an entire wall or recess, edge to edge, with mirror.
Tip: Side tables in front of the mirrors can add a place to display items and add another layer of grandeur. Try finely detailed slim or metal side tables for an elegant, barely-there effect.
If you still like a mirror over the fireplace, one large piece is more modern.
Browse more bedroom ideas
Browse more bedroom ideas
I love using American oak for mirror frames, but for a more budget approach choose a cheaper timber and stain the frame or apply dark black gloss for elegance.
6. Get stoned
Invigorate a blank plaster wall with a stone veneer. The added texture and beauty creates a feeling of grandeur and solidity. When I’m revamping an existing space, I use a veneer product because it has about one third the weight, so we don’t need to get an engineer to calculate whether the floor can take the stone weight or loading. Start with a cement sheet product behind the veneer; the sheet needs to be applied as a system with the veneer. A skilled tradesperson or stonemason can do this.
Invigorate a blank plaster wall with a stone veneer. The added texture and beauty creates a feeling of grandeur and solidity. When I’m revamping an existing space, I use a veneer product because it has about one third the weight, so we don’t need to get an engineer to calculate whether the floor can take the stone weight or loading. Start with a cement sheet product behind the veneer; the sheet needs to be applied as a system with the veneer. A skilled tradesperson or stonemason can do this.
Return the stone veneer around the corner or create a three-dimensional shape with the veneer for a chunkier and more authentic look. By mimicking the depth of real stone, you cheat the eye and avoid the veneer looking fake.
TELL US
How do you add interest to your fireplace in the warmer months? Tell us in the Comments below.
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Read up on more decorating ideas
TELL US
How do you add interest to your fireplace in the warmer months? Tell us in the Comments below.
MORE
Read up on more decorating ideas
Even when the modern in-wall fireboxes don’t require it, pushing a boxed-out ‘chimney breast’ into the room immediately amps up the space. Bring the faceplate of the gas fireplace out and line either side of the breast with shelving. Try recessing the shelves to help the eye travel.
Talk to your builder about framing out the box; if your existing gas firebox sits flat against the wall, it can be moved forward. To make the fireplace stand out further, paint shelving recesses on either side a darker tone; the white comes forward to the eye and the darker colour recedes, so that the fire becomes the feature.
Tip: Art can add some wonderful personality to a fireplace and draw the eye to the firebox below, but beware the dos and don’ts of hanging art in this location before you go ahead.