Horrific fireplace dilemma!

8 years ago

The "middle room" of our terraced Victorian home is quite small (3m X 3m) and has no windows, a staircase and entry way against one wall, doors into the kitchen on the adjoining wall and this monstrosity on the opposite one. Needless to say it is impossible to find someway of using this room so since our hallway is quite narrow we have decided to make it into a home office/extension of the hallway and put a WC in under the stairs. My dilemma is what to do with the fireplace. I hate it as it is it is dirty and drafty and dark and far too large for the room. I want to paint it either pale or a slightly brighter colour but wanted everyone's opinions on it before I take the plunge. Thoughts please? Also any alternative ideas on what to do with the room are very welcome!

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PRO

Caldicot Kitchen & Bathroom Centre

8 years ago

If you really don't like it, then a pale paint would, I think, be preferrable to bright colours, especially if the space is small. Alternatively, you could board over the fireplace and skim, keeping the opening as a "frame" for something (vase& twigs, books or no end of other things) and perhaps but a simple chunky but "restrained" oak mantel above.

To either side of the fireplace, I'd either put a couple of freestanding oak bookshelves or shelve out professionally.

Hope that gives a few ideas!!

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Comments (17)

mushti2112
Original Author
8 years ago
I am reluctant to board it over because I do like traditional features it's just this is too much for the room. Thanks for the guidance towards light rather than bright! It's the lack of natural light that is the worst in this room so I think perhaps keeping the colour scheme light with pale walls and lots of mirrors and downlights might help with this problem?
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your welcome from my experience you are always starting again with homes as styles and you change so you will have a head start. I'm always changing things with paint and reinventing rooms but over the years found that the classics especially if originals like yours will always stand the test of time and never go out of style but they dont have to look dated mix it up. if you tire of the carpet which I love think about making it into a huge rug bounded around the edge with what ever colour adorns your walls then would look stunning on a wood floor same with the sink could always be used in another room I would team it with black or even faux marble back drop oh endless fun and NOT AVAILABLE on the high street enjoy your home always
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The problem is the stark cold white walls against the soft warm browns of the fireplace. I don't recommend going all beige but try colours from the same warm spectrum as the fireplace and I think you'll find it looks more natural in the space. Also, the round candles don't work with the squares and oblongs of the fireplace; find other accessories that enhance rather than scream at the shapes and colours and that could make a huge difference. So could a mirror or picture above it - it would shift the focus so the fireplace doesn't dominate. Work with it, not against, then judge it. These fireplaces are handsome; trying to pretty them doesn't work.
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Flueless gas fire - so keep your chimney insulated as it is - and no hassle of cleaning fire and emptying ash, booking chimney sweeps no annually etc . Just switch on and off when you want instant cosiness.
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Hi, so I think there are a couple of considerations here: - Is the space big enough in terms of safety as well as aesthetics. The safety aspect is a question for a specialist so I'd ring one or two local woodburning stove companies, send them your pics and ask their advice. They'll also need to advise you on your chimney arrangement. - Assuming you can go ahead, what to do in terms of surrounding decor. I think if you want a brick surround like your inspiration picture, you'd need to have decorative brick slips laid on top of the bricks you've unearthed - they look like they're the house bricks which were never intended to be on show and therefore they're unlikely ever to look pretty. But you could also have that area plastered or I'm sure there are other solutions. But I think the safety/is it possible question is the first one you need to have answered, then move on to how make it look good. Hope that helps?
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PRO
Caldicot Kitchen & Bathroom Centre
8 years ago
I understand your love of traditional features (I share it!), though I am always wary of painting a "traditional" surface like those porous bricks which, once painted, could never easily be returned to their natural state. For that reason, sometimes I would advocate covering over something which could later be revealed again. I always love the stories of people rediscovering old cast iron or tiled fireplaces and restoring them - it would have been dreadful for them to have been ripped out!

If lack of natural light is a real challenge then, yes, downlights and pale walls would be a good way to go. If installation is possible, 4 LED spots should do the trick, ideally with a "blueish" tint (closest to sunlight) and are very low energy these days.

Introduce colour with your furnishings/ornaments - a splash of colour from the odd cushion, vase, picture or curtain will lift an otherwise pale colour scheme.

Another option to soften the space but still keep the traditional features would be to add a thin coat of a slightly rough/textured traditional lime plaster, but still keep a lot of the brick showing through. Not a diy job though! And rather goes against my previous comments wrt maintaining period features....
mushti2112 thanked Caldicot Kitchen & Bathroom Centre
mushti2112
Original Author
8 years ago
I would have been over the moon if there was a cast iron fireplace or encaustic tiled hearth in there but unfortunately there's just a big black hole and a concrete floor :-( I was thinking perhaps of whitewash to keep the overall tone as red brick but just lighten it? Then we could put in a nice reclaimed surround and a plant in the middle of it.

Thanks a lot for your suggestion re: lighting - luckily we have not decorated or carpeted the bedroom above this room yet so lifting the floorboards to put in downlights should be relatively doable. We have taken the approach you suggest re: furnishings and decor in the living room - we've kept it very neutral and used pops of coral in our soft furnishings and we're really pleased with the result so happy to take the same approach here.

Good to know we're on the right track!
PRO
ROOM4STYLE - Inspired Interiors
8 years ago
I think this room could look really nice if it had a 'true identity', say a snug, and if used accordingly. At the moment this room gives very mixed messages due to the fact that it's used for storage (big card board box), a doggy room ( dog box in fireplace, a wardrobe (clothes hanging of shelves, and rather unloved sofa and carpet. If this was mine, here is what I would do:
Replace the carpet with something natural, like a sisal
Remove the storage box, put the doggy box in its place
Put a hook behind a door to hand the odd hanger with clothes
Put the coffee table by the side off the sofa with a lovely table lamp on it to create some soft mood lighting. Do so on both sides if possible.
Plaster the inside of the fireplace and the paint it white, and decorate with a tall vase with twigs, or candles (Ikea do great Led ones so no worries about smoke or fire)
Get a nice coffee table in front of the sofa so a magazine and tea cup can be parked there
Put some books and maybe picture frames on the book shelves to dress them, maybe paint them white too, so you don't have too many different colours in the room.
Hope this inspires some ideas?!
PRO
ROOM4STYLE - Inspired Interiors
8 years ago
Oh, and hang a wide mirror or picture on the wall behind the sofa to create extra light, depth and interest.
Also the highest shelf is too high. Bring it down lower or add another one below.
PRO
User
8 years ago
Hi Mushti,

Just thinking of another angle...I'm not sure if you have a working fireplace or not but if you did, have you ever considered putting a small woodburner in there? You can get it installed along with getting your chimney lined by a professional. I personally love seeing a real fire in a house and is a great selling point if you ever did come to sell your house in the future.

Hope it all goes well.

Jonathan
minnie101
8 years ago
Hi. I have to say I really like the fireplace.. I would just get it cleaned up. If in budget Install a log burner. If not buy a grate and pop some logs in or just fill the fire with logs. I would remove all of the shelves and would have velvet chairs angled in the alcoves. Would add a few downlighters if needed but also have a floor lamp in one alcove and add a table lamp for a cosy feel. If you need somewhere to work, I'd get a slim elegant looking desk which can be angled in the middle of the room rather than against a wall. If there is any ŵall space I would add some bookcases to give it an cosy library feel. What flooring and ŵall colour do you have on the rooms either side?
mushti2112
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks so much everyone for the ideas. The room is a mess right now I know we only just bought the place so it is a total blank slate and we have focused on the living room and now are moving onto this room so I know it looks a state! I like the idea of velvet armchairs in each alcove and we are open to the idea of a wood burning stove as we want one in the living room as well. We were thinking perhaps to open the space to the left of the fireplace into the living room with sliding French paned doors and we are putting a wall and doors to the right of the fireplace into the kitchen/diner. The living room is in natural Hessian with pops of coral so we are thinking of using the same basic neutral colour throughout the ground floor rooms and varying the floor (having engineered wood in the kitchen, have cream carpet with a sisal rug in the lounge) so thinking about bringing the engineered wood through this room too and down the adjoining hallway and putting another sisal rug in here? I've seen a lovely white wood burner that I was thinking about for this room. Didn't think of plastering the inside of it (it is so black and horrible right now!) - what about whitewash on the brick does anyone know what that comes out like? Is it better than paint?
minnie101
8 years ago
If you're thinking about opening up the room to the living room, I might consider continuing the cream carpet as it will make the space feel bigger.

If not, I think the wood would look great. Again, if you do open it up, I'd tie in the accent colour with the coral. Whitewash is typically just watered down normal paint. The more coats you give it the whiter it will become. Your brick has some lovely colours so I'd you did go that route i would keep a fair bit of the colour showing through (more so than in the pic above!) to avoid it looking cold. A chalky white paint may also work better than a brilliant white. I personally wouldn't just paint this, i think it would look very cold
mushti2112
Original Author
8 years ago
From the picture you've posted I can see it does look very cold if it is too grey/white so that's really helpful. We would need to tidy the brickwork up because it's been done very slapdash chunks of cement and holes all over it but we can do that and then do a very watered down coat of whitewash and layer it up slowly deciding at what point to stop so we still have some of the colour coming through just a bit muted to stop it taking over the whole room!
GardenFairyGodmother GFG
8 years ago
I would get a chimney balloon to block out the draughts, they are available on Amazon. Then fill in the fire place with a bespoke bookcase. This is what we did in our living room. We put a TV on the chimney breast and store our DVD underneath. It would have been too much work to paint or plaster over the bricks and a new TV was cheaper!
PRO
Julu
8 years ago
Don't paint it as you will regret it later. Good lighting with mirrors used on the walls and a wooden floor would give you a great starting point. Block the chimney with regard to draughts and live with it and see how you use it then?
Lynn Robbo
8 years ago
White wash it
PRO
User
8 years ago
I like the fireplace! However, making it brighter will obviously be of an advantage to you. If you have a handy hubby they're easy to block with a board cut to size, or just get the Chimney balloon as someone else suggested. Maybe you could rough render the inside of it, keeping the cottage feel, and this will make the painting of it look nicer, it's not as hard as you think! Here a few different ones that we did in a former life as property developers !
Dawn Rimmer
8 years ago
I would definitely paint the whole room a shade of soft white including both inside and outside the fireplace and do the ceiling brilliant white. I would block off the fireplace as suggested and have a 'candle in assorted lanterns' display. I would rip up the carpet and have the same, if possible, as the hall and sitting room, something pale, so the areas 'flow'. Or if it is all wood a pale cream/off white thick rug.

I would lose the shelves and have floor to ceiling mirrors in each alcove (fitted ie unframed) with side tables and matching lamps to enhance the symmetry.

It could be a lovely calm serene centre to the house :)
PRO
Lizzie Wells Mosaics
7 years ago
Why not not have one of our "Faux Fireplaces" made from mosaic tiles? It's carbon friendly (!) and is always a grea

t talking point!

Horrific fireplace dilemma!

Caldicot Kitchen & Bathroom Centre

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mushti2112
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Horrific fireplace dilemma!

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