It’s my 16th Blogiversary on Halloween. October 31, 2008 was the day I started writing this blog all about timeless design and it changed my entire life. Whether you’re new here, or have been with me for years, I appreciate you 💛
What’s new in this past year is I built our new True Colour Insiders community. It’s for all of you who want to connect to other colour and timeless design loving friends in a more interactive and resource rich way.
Inside, you’ll have access to ongoing learning, feedback and support from like minded learners along with my team and I while you learn the Killam Colour System. Because it takes practice and you will need the right guidance.
Informed guidance you can trust is what makes this different. On other forums where you might get hundreds of responses to any question, it’s impossible to know if any of the advice is right.
I’m so excited about this community and can’t wait to meet you inside!
Design is less about personal taste (than you might think)
And as you know, if you’ve been following me for a while, there actually is a correct and timeless way to make interior design choices for your home. Good design is much more than personal taste and opinion.
I don’t believe in this statement that I just read on another site by a designer who was giving the same advice about fireplaces that you’re about to read next:
“All that said, if you love it, you do you! Design is, above all, personal!”
Design is personal when you choose the STYLE of your new build. After that, everything needs to be selected according to that style and that’s where things can go very wrong if you don’t know how to do that.
Design is personal when you decorate. But if you don’t know how to decorate, or you choose furniture that is the wrong style, scale, size or colour, well that’s when you end up spending a lot of money on stuff you’re not real happy with in the end.
Kind of like in the membership the other day, one of my lovely members posted a mood board she was working on (my new board course is included inside) and in it, she had a mid century modern sofa with a dining set with a more traditional leaning farmhouse chair. My comment on her board that day was that her dining chairs should have pencil legs to better coordinate with the existing sofa she already had. A detail that she missed but was then able to correct BEFORE she purchased them.
See everything that is included with your membership here.
Ok now back to the fireplace post:
This linear fireplace design does NOT belong in your house
This builder-chosen fireplace design has to stop. I’ve been seeing this fireplace too much (below). So much so, that I need to flat out tell you right now to NEVER let your builder install this in your house.
And by the way, it’s not new that the linear fireplace is trending, but it’s alarming that it seems to suddenly be the standard fireplace in every new build.
My new community started talking about it on the feed when I mentioned this trend in my Instagram stories last week. One member said it’s the only fireplace her builder would install in her new house.
When it’s overpowering the room
I was on another public forum and someone posted this image with this question:
Decorate and distract (from what it is you don’t like)
Firstly, this fireplace needs a very large, light piece of art to distract the eye from the long black rectangle. Although this post is not about area rugs, I also see this type of muddy, non-committal area rug everywhere. Plus it has a pink beige undertone which doesn’t relate to the decorating. But she hasn’t noticed this detail because the fireplace is so overwhelming.
I took the liberty of having a piece of art photoshopped onto the fireplace (below), much better already!
So listen, I can count on one hand, how many linear fireplace designs I’ve seen that are pretty and here they are:
You’ll notice that none of the images I posted simply has a black rectangle slapped inside stacked stone. That’s because that is not good design. It’s just builder basic. Also, notice that the living room in each of these spaces is MODERN.
What I did with my linear fireplace
The entertainment room in my new house also had a linear fireplace, it came out STAT. And in case you’re wondering I currently have a big hole in the wall with the new fireplace jutting out of it waiting for millwork. This summer my landscaping took up my entire decorating budget.
And in case you’re reading this and already have this fireplace in your home because you didn’t know, or you inherited one, hopefully a big piece of art is in your future.
That’s all there is to do, keep decorating if you’re not happy with how it looks now. And if you’d like ongoing help and support, join my new community here.
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Related posts:
Here’s Why I prefer a Square Fireplace Insert
Creating Flow with Marble Finishes: My New Fireplace
Is the Natural Brick Fireplace Back? Yay or Nay
T h e fireplaces don’t look linear to me. Those look like more traditional fireplaces. Isn’ta linear fireplace basically a rectangular floating fireplace? Maybe we should call them floating in the middle of nothing fireplaces.
The examples of the fireplaces that are more boxy near the floor are definitely not linear, as you say. It’s the ones that are more suspended, floating on the wall. Her first example was linear. The ones after not so much, including the one she ripped out of her home. I am not a fan of a true linear fireplace but the others seem more traditional.
They are linear, because they are not square. I have not seen a skinny linear fireplace that looks good, which is why you did not see it in this post, If you found one, please post it in the comments, I would love to see it! Thanks for your comment, Maria
I have updated the images since everyone is splitting hairs on what exactly a LINEAR fireplace seems to be. However, the basic rules of design still apply here. A square fireplace is traditional, while a RECTANGLE is modern.
Linear is basically a rectangle which is MODERN. Which is the biggest mistake happening in building today, the mish mash of traditional and modern that is happening everywhere. Thanks for your comment, Maria
I usually agree with you, but I love my contemporary fireplace. And mantel. When it goes out of style I willl then worry about remodeling
Point well taken, but I think “builder’s edition” type linear fireplaces can look quite good and actually enhance and sometimes balance a room quite well. The error I see most often are linear fireplaces with surrounding masonry, facades or a hearths that would be better served with traditional styled fireplaces or a more square or short rectangle design, much like the first picture above.
Potentially yes but in a MODERN house which I repeat, MOST people do not have. Maria
A couple suggestions:
To ” there actually is A correct and timeless way” I’d reply “there actually are MANY correct and timeless wayS”. We don’t all have to be clones.
In response to “everything needs to be selected according to that style” I’d suggest that a home could also be a comfortable pastiche of styles, in my case MCM and American antiques coexist happily in a ’70s ranch home.
There are many roads up the (Style) mountain.
Yes but you’re talking about FURNITURE, which is very different from hard finishes.
What I have learned from seeing tens of thousands of rooms, is that if the room is sparsely furnished and not styled, it looks better if the styles coordinate.
And unfortunately design today is very cloned. There are millions of bathrooms and kitchens filled with 12 x 24 bleak grey and charcoal tile and countless other wrong and trendy choices that in no way belong in most homes today and that is what I’m trying to save the world from.
And as I have also been consulting with thousands and thousands of clients for 16 years on timeless design, I can tell you that there are in fact not MANY correct and timeless ways, if that were true, we would not need designers, and there would be more homes out there that were accidentally right instead of mostly always wrong and bad and no one wants the trendy, bad finishes the previous homeowner installed and as I have already mentioned, THAT is what I’m trying to save the world from.
Thanks for your comment. Maria
You make a good point about the hard finishes. But I was still happy to replace the ’70s-style-appropriate Avocade Congoleum 😉
Coincidentally, I’m about to install a new fireplace in the den and I’m taking the surrounding stone (marble) to the floor this time instead of having a hearth, which in my opinion is a more rustic feature. You’re right that the linear-style fireplace only works in very modern settings, but it seems to be the trend. Generally not a good idea.
Happy Anniversary!
If someone is stuck with a linear fireplace, would it help to surround it with traditional trim? One of your examples looks a bit like that.
I have this same question.
I have a linear fireplace in my bedroom just randomly floating on the wall. I’ve been wondering if it is best to distract (add an interesting painting as Maria has done), disguise (to make it look more rectangular or paint the wall a dark colour) or just ditch it and buy a square one.
Some interesting engagement on this post!
Happy blogiversary!
What I think is an even bigger design error is the huge black TV screen above the linear fireplace in one of the photos. Everyone should know about Samsung’s “The Frame” TV which shows a rotating display of art of your choosing when the TV is off. The Frame TV was our compromise when my husband wanted a 75” TV in our fairly small living room. We change the art periodically, No more black screen!