Unsure if you should paint your fireplace? Discover expert tips on working with your home’s existing stone or brick, and get practical advice for decorating around a bossy fireplace for a more timeless and cohesive look that also suits the style of your home.
Should I paint or decorate around my fireplace?
The fireplace is the focal point of the room. It simply can’t be ignored. It’s an element that should ideally make sense with the architectural style of your home. Like the kitchen, it sets the tone. And if it’s stone, it sets the colour palette.
Today I’m sharing a couple of Q&As about how to work around a bossy fireplace.
Help! My stone fireplace is bossy
Here is a question from one of my True Colour Insider community members. She has received lots of great feedback from the community.
But decorating around a bossy fireplace is such a common issue, I wanted to share my take here. She says:
I live in a 1957 ranch style home, I thought I would completely renovate the fireplace, but after moving in, we discovered it is a heatilator fireplace and actually has a fan and vent system built in, some of the “grout lines” are actually holes that hot air comes out of. It would be a huge undertaking to remove and/or renovate that we just aren’t interested in right now.
Soooo…I’m trying to embrace it! I painted the wall black a few years ago as a temporary “trendy” solution, but know I need to make it look more timeless for the long haul. I need new couches, rug, end tables, wall art, curtains, maybe even sconces?…just not sure what paint color/rug color to start with! I know I need a jumping off point! Our kitchen and dining area are open to this room as well, so I added pictures of those! Any advice would be so appreciated!
P.S. yes, that’s our front door right in the middle of the rooms, we rarely use it though!
Fireplace advice from a colour expert
First, this specific type of linear stone is definitely retro and it makes sense in your Mid Century home.
And as a general rule, it’s usually best not to fight the style of your home and impose a different style of decorating. I’ve seen waaaay too many 50s and 60s bungalows flipped to the black and white modern farmhouse trend 😬
It looks like your taste in decorating leans more traditional than MCM. And I don’t ever recommend turning your house into an MCM time capsule. But it would be good to consider some “warm modern”, slightly sleeker pieces to give a nod to the house when you replace furnishings.
Warm Modern Living Room via New York Times
If the stone is part of the function of the fireplace (I’ve never heard of a heatilator 🧐) and you’re not ready or willing to replace it altogether, then I suggest you work with it rather than against it. And if some of the grout lines are actually venting holes? Painting it a light colour will make those stand out.
And this kind of retro modern cut of stone is not going to look amazing when painted anyway.
Use your fireplace as a starting point for decorating
Your stone fireplace works as a pattern in the space. In other words, it’s already the jumping off point. It has a range of what looks like caramel, orange and green beige or taupe plus a terracotta hearth.
The floors are also the nice warm cognac tone of that era. This kind of wood floor is right on the limit of timeless. Meaning they are still brown, but becoming harder to ignore. I find the room feels better when the decor directly ties them in.
Basically, if this fireplace stays, your room already has a colour palette. All there is to do is repeat those colours. Pulling in something as unrelated and fresh as blue is not going to work well. A harmonious neutral palette that repeats the colours in the fireplace is going to look best.
Something like this mood board below.
A calmer, larger area rug that picks up the caramel tones and layers in some fresh cream would be ideal. This rug is both modern and casual. Busier graphic patterns won’t work with the soft, organic look of the stone.
When you’re ready for new sofas, a sleeker timeless roll arm style in a cognac colour would be a nice repeat of both the floors and the stone. This kind of sofa is so great because it’s both traditional and timeless and sleek enough to work in modern rooms.
I’ve layered in terracotta drapes to repeat the warmer orange of the hearth. Cream could work too if you repeat the terracotta somewhere else.
🔥 HOT TIP: Here’s the thing with pulling together any room: a colour fits right in once you repeat it. But it will always look more balanced if the palette is restrained to the colours in the dominant pattern. In this case that’s the fireplace.
An earthy neutral palette doesn’t have to be stuffy or boring. The key is contrast and texture.
If this look doesn’t appeal to you, then a new fireplace for an MCM home could look something like this simple art deco style below. Which would open you up to decorating with brighter and fresher colours like blues.
What should I do with the stone wall behind my fireplace?
Here’s another question from inside my community. Everyday we are working together to brainstorm and tackle colour and decorating challenges like this. It’s really so much fun! Join us here.
What can I do to make this fireplace look better? My home was built in 1956. I love English country and French country style. This fireplace wall feels dark and heavy. I want to redecorate this room with a new rug and furniture, as well. What should I do?!
What would a colour expert do with this room?
Here again we have the warm, linear mid century stacked stone. And the decorating is trying really, really hard to ignore it. Unfortunately French Country is a square peg to MCM’s round hole.
The blue area rug is very pretty, and it’s the perfect size too! But it doesn’t pick up the stone in any way. And again, it’s much too traditional for this room.
Stone like this demands to be involved.
So do we paint out the stone wall?
I say no. When you paint anything with texture a light colour or white, the texture pops out even more. This is why I don’t generally recommend painting that busy dry stacked linear stone that builders love to slap onto fireplaces. Painted brick is fine, but this stone? Not ideal
In this case, because I don’t think there is anything venting through the stone, it would be best just to completely drywall over it.
I think this is an underrated solution to random bossy stone walls and flat builder stone fireplaces. A simple drywall job. Often a fireplace can be boxed in to be a clean bump out that you can add a simple surround to. End of troubles.
This wall would look lumpy painted, but drywall would save the day!
Then the mantel could be painted the trim colour and you would have a much more versatile backdrop for decorating. Although again, I would consider choosing some sleeker pieces that give a nod to the era of your home here too. And a simpler deco style fireplace surround would be an appropriate update here as well.
Have a bossy fireplace you’re not sure how to decorate around or how to update? Tidy up your room, take a few photos without flash and artificial light and email them to us here.
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The cognac in the rug, drapes and sofa is too monochromatic. I would recommend some earthy greens along with cognac like in the NY Times photo. I love MCM furniture with the simple lines, and there are many manufacturers making that type of furniture today with a wealth of color options. I would also throw in some navy because I do that almost everywhere as it’s truly a neutral that works with greens and creams. I would work with the fireplace here because I think it’s lovely–it’s not a mottled mess of stone, and with the right decorating, it really won’t be an albatross.
I agree. Too much unrelieved neutral. Beautiful green or blue-green drapes along with some pillows that pull in greens or blue-greens would be beautiful.
I agree! The example is quite matchy-matchy and lacks depth. Even new sofas in her current light color would work with a different rug and drapes. Since blue is a complementary color to yellow, a muted blue would work with the gold tones of the fireplace, as well as your great suggestion of earthy green.
Maria, great educational post and suggestions for dealing with bossy stone fireplaces.
I love MCM and would work WITH it, not against. In my opinion, the curved cognac sofa does not complement the style of the home. I would stick with straighter lines and focus on adding some texture and color.
I was surprised that the chosen paint color leans more toward a green beige. I was expecting an orange beige. Could you please explain why the green beige is a better choice? Thank you.
The problem with the second example of bossy stone walls/fireplace is not the wall but rather the color of the fireplace mantle. The dark wood just screams traditional. I would paint the fireplace mantle and place a console, chest or bookcase on either side of the fireplace. This way you have a focal point that is proportional to the room (the brick wall behind it). This home owner loves French Country and she can have that as long as she respects cleaner lines, and no rustic looking pieces like the console (The texture of the wall fights with the texture on that console piece and it just looks busy) that the television is resting on. Also, do not place furniture on the diagonal like that. It throws the entire room off-balance. As far as a rug I would install a sisal or jute rug to keep with MCM simplicity while still paying homage to French Country. Ditch the small check cloth and velvet pillows and use a plaid that was popular to that time period. Also, that room can handle large prints and stripes along with texture such as linen. On the windows I would place matchstick blinds, again, a nod to MCM and French Country.
The house we bought came with a big sandstone fireplace, with oranges and yellows I didn’t like, and a cement- looking mantle. (The other two fireplaces are beautiful reclaimed brick with rustic beam mantles. Not sure why a house needs 3 fireplaces, nor why you would build in two such different styles.) I looked at it for several years before I figured out what to try. I grey-washed that sandstone with grey paint and water. It was enough paint to tone down all the bossy colors, but thin enough to still have variation in the stones and look very natural. You’d never guess they were painted. We put on a new wood beam mantle, painted the walls the palest shade of grey, and it went from being the ugliest room in the house to the prettiest.
Great article. I too have a 1957 ranch and am lost on a paint color as I am tired of the mint green I had done 16 years ago. My fireplace is red brick surround and flat hearth with a wood surround and mantel stained in a rather orangey tone stain. Not sure if the fireplace is a jumping off place or not as not much variance in brick color.