Creating Flow with Marble Finishes: My New Fireplace

I’ve written about decorating with marble and creating flow a lot on this blog. And now? I’m using my marble backsplash tile as a starting point to create flow in my dining room and living room.

And since marble coordinates nicely with lots of colour, this is an excellent finish to repeat in my home. Here’s how to create flow with marble.

One of the reasons I fell in love with this new house was the kitchen. You’ve probably heard me say that the designer left after the kitchen was designed – ha! I’m not sure what happened to the rest of the finishes in this house, but for the most part, the kitchen worked for us!

How to create flow with marble finishes

The existing Calacatta Marble subway backsplash in my new kitchen was already a beautiful choice and I was so happy it did not need to be changed (below).

As it was, this became the starting point for the 24″ x 24″ Calacatta Porcelain tile I chose for the sunroom floor (still yet to be painted a fabulous colour):

This house was filled with so much taupe that I’ve been trying to replace, paint or refinish one room at a time. And one of the first finishes I wanted to replace was the dark taupe cast stone fireplace that certainly couldn’t stay taupe:

Real estate photo

Happily it just needed to be painted because otherwise it was perfect. And of course the grid moulding was removed, which in no way related to any of the other pretty moulding in this room. 

When creating colour palettes that flow, look for coordinating colours you can repeat in other rooms. Colour flow generally starts in the living room. But in this case, I started in my kitchen. 

And instead, I found a coordinating finish (that I already loved) and could repeat in my sunroom and then my living room. Since all three rooms are adjoining, repeating this marble finish helped make them all relate without being direct copies – marble backsplash, marble floor, and … marble fireplace? Yes!

So, I decided to also continue my marble inspiration in the living room by making this cast stone fireplace look like marble. It is an incredibly smart way to update this fireplace without replacing it.

I knew EXACTLY who to call to create the faux marble look I wanted.

Evangelia Kondilis is the go-to decorative artist in Vancouver who anyone calls when they want something fabulous created in their home. Evangelia does custom, hand-painted finishes and art. She is trained in Italy, France, Canada and the USA. Lucky for me she she’s local. She also installs wallpaper. What a fabulous combination of talents!

The fireplace was painted white to begin with and then the artist got to work to create the marble veining by hand:

And here’s the gorgeous after!!

Another view with the moulding changes above the mantel.

Evangelia also installed my mural. Because of my 10 ft ceilings there was 1 1/2″ left at the bottom, so she hand-painted it to match.

Here’s the before again:

And here’s the after:

Evangelia lives in the lower mainland but she loves to travel for projects too!  If you need any type of faux finish painting or someone to properly hang wallpaper for you, contact her here.

Anyone else tried incorporating a faux marble finish in their decorating? I’d love to know!

Stay tuned for more room reveals coming soon! We are nearing the end of our first phase of renovation projects here at the house.

Did you know that I can help you choose a colour for your fireplace too? It’s an “add on” in my eDesign paint colour packages. 

Related posts:

Don’t Install a New Fireplace without Reading this First

Read this Before your Stone Fireplace Makeover

Is the Natural Brick Fireplace Back?