We have a European Cottage with stone outside. Only stone inside (besides flooring/countertops) is the lower level den FP. Our arches all have rounded corners. Me, I like the look w/o molding. Maybe someone will post pictures with molding. (Walls are SW Moderate White, much warmer white in person than photos - tends to wash out the color.)

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Our Great Room FP is limestone.

If you want a more formal room, do a limestone mantel with an overmantel. You could take it all the way to the ceiling, but I've seen this done on a kitchen range hood as tall as your FP and I really didn't care for it going that far up. I would do a mantel (with or without an overmantel, depending on your taste) then finish the rest out with sheetrock, painted the wall color.

If less formal, finish the FP in real stone but I wouldn't do stone columns at the DR.

Have you considered using stone just around the fireplace opening and using plaster for the remaining area?

I agree the angled framework is worth highlighting and I am not sure stone would be the right choice for that. Plus I think it may look to austere--and "Mini Mc-Castle" looking. You could also use plaster on the arches and surrounding walls as well---and it would be stunning with your hand scraped floors.

I had a european style timberframe home years ago. The walls were plaster (not drywall) and it gave a whole new depth and warmth to the home.

I've attached a few pics of different plaster fireplaces.

Here is a link that might be useful:

I like the plaster idea! That looks fabulous.

I have molding on my arches but didn't go all the way around. It definitely added some formality to the rooms. If you want something more casual, then doing something like your inspiration photo would be better.

Here's my arches with molding on the bottom. I had a photo in my file with molding all the way around but I can't find it right now. If I run across it, I'll post it.

Here's my fireplace. It's 14' and we have the same stone on the exterior. (European style)

I agree with Lindybarts, I like your inspiration picture.
I think the "less is more" approach is good. Too much stone and you don't see anything else in the room. By the way, your house looks lovely! It has "nice bones" my house designer/good friend told me that when I have that "doubt feeling " about a design decision that I should go with the classic/simple choice because it will endure all the decorating trends and you don't want to be sorry down the road. Big decisions should be classic, accessories can be trendy because they are a lot less expensive to change! Best of luck!
Christine

Thanks so much for the responses and ideas!

Alison, love the dark wood beams in your home...and your exterior stone looks very similar to ours.

I really like the plaster idea, lagom! When you say plaster, do you mean Venetian Plaster ($$$) or is there a different treatment? We are guilty of building a mini-McCastle so I had to giggle at your comment! :) My builder wants to take that theme inside for his other homes but like I said, a little too much for our taste!

Our builder was saying that by NOT doing the stone on both the dining room arches and the fireplace, we'd be saving $6000 which is always good.

The stone mantles can be pricey too but if there's a plaster treatment that's not as pricey as Venetian Plaster, I'd love to know about it!

I do love the molding too, lindy! Oh decisions decisions.

My builder also emailed me these columns but I think they may be too formal..

Great tip to remember, Christine, about sticking to simple and classic. I will definitely remember that as I'm now starting to pick the finishes. It's so easy to go overboard so thanks for posting that!

I'm not too familiar with Venetian plaster--I think I've seen it along with faux finishes - like at HD --- it may be more of a post decorative thing---I'm honestly just not sure.

The plaster look I was referring to is applied during construction. It's really a thin veneer of plaster" applied on top of blue board (gypsum ). The gypsum panels are installed like drywall but are finished with a one or two coats of the plaster. The finish product looks just like plaster walls. I believe the cost is roughly double drywall hanging and taping/mudding.

And apologies for the McMansion comment---no offense intended! ;-)

Thanks, kaydles. I had the stonemason mix three types of stone. They are artists.

A plaster finish is different than a sheetrock mud knock-down finish. It's also called an orange peel finish. It can be anything from heavy with swirl to a light application.

I think the columns are too formal also and not the look you're going after.

Do you have a mantel picked out yet? Here's a place that is not as expensive as others.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mission Stone

You all are the best! My husband was so adamant about doing the fireplace in stone but I flat out told him that I think it would be too much for that room. Then when I showed him the stone fireplace mantels, he fell in love with those!

Thanks for the plaster lesson, Allison & lagom (no worries about the McMansion comment - I'm not offended at all!). I think my builder was already doing a plaster finish on the walls now that I understand the difference.

But I made an appointment with a decorative painter for the morning to get his ideas on what to do with these spaces. I'm excited to see what he comes up with!

I think you would be really happy with one of the cast stone surrounds. Ours is probably not the style you would like in your place, but we are very happy with it. This pic shows the inset tile ungrouted. We also still need to put our colored caulking in the joints on the surround. And of course, it's incredibly dusty!
Overall, it gives a nice 'stone' feeling without being "too much for that room".

Thanks, fishpants (love your name!)...that really is beautiful.

Allison, I checked out Mission's website and they do have some nice stuff at very reasonable prices.

There are a couple of local dealers here so we're planning on visiting their showrooms this weekend to compare.

The only thing I'm a bit worried about on the cast stone surrounds is that the sides of my fireplace box is really narrow (8" each side). My builder's plan was just to do to stone all the way up with a wood beam as a mantel and corbels beneath.

But I'm sure the cast stone vendors can do a custom one for me.

I checked locally and ended up buying from them. The man I dealt with was very nice. If I remember correctly, he said he could do whatever we wanted - it would just cost more, since they already have the forms built for the ones on the website. I do know they can, for example, cut the horizontal sections down some if it's larger than you want.

I noticed the narrow sides in your picture. They will make it harder to find something and/or you won't be able to have an overly large horizontal piece with narrow sides.

Good luck!

Here is an inspiration photo from Don Gardner's website of a stone fireplace.

I found a picture of an archway with moldings in my file...

I tried to resize the photo but it just didn't change - sorry

Thanks, tx...

Those archways are beautiful as well as the stone fireplace.

However, the stone we're using on the exterior isn't stacked and flat like that...it's more random and rounder so the effect won't be as clean like that pic.

I met with a decorative painter today at the house and he has some really cool ideas for the fireplace as well as the arches. I'm still waiting for his pricing which I'm expecting will be VERY EXPENSIVE. So we'll see.

Stone, real and faux, are not inexpensive so I'm betting his price for the FP will be less.

My parents have a limestone FP at their lakehouse and had a faux finisher paint the remainder of the FP faux painted to resemble limestone blocks. He used a thin layer of sheetrock mud for the mortar between the blocks. Looks really good.

Here is ours. It was to be on a side wall, but the builder reccomended moving it to the corner. From the front door, you would have seen the end of the book cases. Now, you enter the hallway and you see the fireplace. We like it much better. Frees up the big wall for furniture too.

Here is a link that might be useful: