The New Modern Fireplace

by Kassandra DeKoning

When we considered building, one of the first design inspirations that popped into my head, was the living room with a focal fireplace. I have always loved the idea of the whole family lingering around the kitchen and living room… Brent watching sports, the boys on the floor playing with their toys and myself in the kitchen cookin’ up something gooood! It was a vision I wanted to make a reality and to dig a little deeper, I have always admired built-in shelving around a fireplace with sleek sconces above. I love the idea of having shelving 1. because I’ve never had a legit shelving unit to style, unless you consider the little shelf unit in the boys bedroom full of books and toys. And 2. I love decor, I want to style it constantly and this is a great focal area to take advantage of!! But that’s not all I’ve been brewing up- I love a good ol’ built in bench loaded with stacked logs underneath to bring in that cozy feeling into our home :)

THE FIREPLACE

So what we decided on was to do a vaulted ceiling in the living room area with the staircase railing running along the hall on the second floor similar to a open-concept loft but with bedrooms. We have two different 3D renderings pictured which help give us an idea of how the space will feel! I definitely love the one on the left much more with the window height being the same as the shelving. But that’s not all, I’m torn on what to really do with our fireplace when it comes to the final look. I love the simplicity of a contemporary fireplace with a longer slimmer frame insert, so I think we will be avoiding a mantel above the insert. I also love the built-ins, but again I’m thinking of simplifying them by opening the bench to the left, and adding logs underneath. On the right side of the fireplace, I may run the shelving down to the floor and take out the enclosed cabinet OR I may take the shelving out and keep both sides symmetrical benches (and there goes my built-in shelving… but you will see why I may want to ditch that shelving in a sec). Also what type of finish to put on the fireplace!? Black plank, large tiles, drywall!? Decisions, decisions…

THE OPTIONS

I love both fireplace options pictured below, and while the white is just SO dang pretty, it’s exactly why I’m so torn if I should go black or white with the fireplace buildout?! Also, when I was talking about symmetry before, I was referring to option 1 where both sides of the fireplace are the same. Option 2 has that open shelving that I admire without going the traditional built-in route which we are trying to distance our design from.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS!? OPTION 1 OR 2? ANY OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS!? MAYBE HOLD ONTO THEM FOR A SEC

All along I had my heart set on a black plank fireplace buildout like this one ^. Now I seem to be second guessing myself- “Will I get sick of the black planks? Should I keep the shelving to the left or keep it very minimal? Lose the sconces?” … See what I mean. We also decided to keep the tv smack dab in the middle… I did, I really tried to talk Brent out of having a big ol’ tv in the center of our living room focal point (all you design folk will get me on this one!). Also, the hardest part of this building process is not being able to physically be in the room, to correlate the size and height of everything. It’s been challenging but I know whatever the outcome, it will be just fine in the end

Out of all 9 fireplace designs, which is your favourite and why!? And yes, yes… you’ve probably noticed that I have a thing for taxidermy antlers *eeeek but they are just so darn pretty