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Fireplaces Home Decorating Design Dilemma

fireplace facelift

4 years ago

Looking for some ideas to revamp our fireplace. I’m not sure I’m sold on the idea of whitewashing or painting the stone (which is not real). The mantle is solid oak and could easily be stripped and re-stained or painted. It could also be replaced. While I’m not committed to our current wall color, I have 3 other rooms that actually need painted so repainting it is fairly low on my to do list. Overall decor of our home (which is very much a work in progress) is rustic/farmhouse. Don’t regard the current mantle decor too much, I’m constantly changing it up.

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PRO

BeverlyFLADeziner

4 years ago

Nothing wrong with the style of your rustic fireplace. I'll bet it fits the style of your home. The problem is all the random stuff around it.

The fireplace wall is a feature in the room and needs to be grounded and the items above it cannot be light in color. Try something more like this. Find a new place for the skulls and family photos, but not together.

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Comments (6)

PRO
Fuse Architects, Inc.
4 years ago
What's underneath the mantle? Does the stone continue up to the top? You could replacing the mantle to be a single hunk of wood like this, and staining it to match the media cabinet (or slightly darker) that you have to the left.
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Beautiful! -gd
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@Kelly Renee - First, just know there are many on this site who will never paint anything wood or stone. They just won't. Not cabinets, not brick - they think it ruins the wood/stone. There are many others who have no problem whitewashing or painting brick and painting good wood cabinets. It's all about what YOU want. My daughter took her large brick fireplace and whitewashed it first. That didn't quite do it for her, so then she painted it. She is thrilled and IMO it looks so much better. If going down that road, whitewash first to see how you like it. Sometimes tones will come out that you don't want and then you can paint it out if you want to. You can't go the other way. It does seem that with the TV mounted above, that the furniture layout could use some work. Perhaps facing the sofa so that when sitting you can see the TV. I'd work on different ways to arrange the furniture, before addressing the aesthetics of the fireplace. Then come back with updated pictures.
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PRO
Sina Sadeddin Architectural Design
4 years ago
The fireplace does seem to suit the style of home, and the mantel matches the wood trim so I'd keep it.

I agree with Beverly that it's just too cluttered. Remove the skulls, get rid of the greenery, par down the pictures, get a larger mirror. Also, is that your TV right there to the left? It feels too close to the fireplace so is there a better location for it?
Jasper Gruel
Original Author
4 years ago
Beverly - thank you so much for the visual, very helpful!

Sina - yes that’s the tv and you’re right, it’s not a great place for it. I’ve contemplated mounting the tv above the fireplace as well as on the where the media cabinet currently is. Doing so would free up a lot of space. Going to revisit this idea with the husband.
PRO
Sina Sadeddin Architectural Design
4 years ago
No to mounting the TV above the fireplace, but if you post all 4 walls we can suggest a better spot
decoenthusiaste
4 years ago
A variation of this would be pretty, even without the stone above.
Indian Hills Living Room · More Info

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