From minimalist designs to decked-out mantels.
Fireplaces not only provide architectural and visual intrigue, but they give your home a cozy central hub. Whether you have a beautiful modern fireplace in the living room all winter or a pretty but nonfunctioning decorative antique fireplace, you've come to the right place for designer-approved inspiration to make it look its best. A fireplace is a natural room centerpiece, so you don't want to leave it sparse, but you also don't want to mount your flat screen above it and leave it at that. The best fireplace decor ideas go far beyond seasonal garlands; they can be easily incorporated into your room's existing decor (even in modern homes) without looking out of place. Decorative Stone For The Wall
If you have a working fireplace, it's important not to sacrifice safety for style. Electric fireplaces should be installed with a glass covering, so you can proceed with decorating without worry. But for an open, wood-burning fireplace, you'll need to invest in a proper screen and safety tools. If you use your fireplace often, you'll also want to avoid hanging decorations too close to the flame to ensure they do not burn, melt, or warp.
The most common way to decorate a fireplace is by hanging a mirror above it and adorning the mantle with sentimental family photos and pillar candles. However, fireplace decor can and we'd argue should also incorporate the surrounding area, walls, and hearth. Ahead, we're highlighting 65 incredible fireplace decor ideas you can easily incorporate into any design style. The best part: These ideas are already designer approved.
The quickest way to elongate summer and enjoy those chilly, transitional nights is to add a fireplace to your outdoor space. We recommend using materials similar to those of your home's exterior, as designer Lisa Tharp did here, to ensure your fireplace looks like it has always been there.
Fireplaces alone on a wall can look incomplete. To frame the unit and fill out this vibrant living room, a pair of floor-to-ceiling bookcases were built in and filled with the family's favorite items. Painting the mantel the same color as the built-ins makes it all look cohesive.
There's nothing worse than distracting from your well-designed sanctuary with a massive flat-screen TV. But we're not recommending you forgo movie nights. Instead, opt for an artistic screen saver or frame the TV with a photo frame, like the one in this living room by Regan Baker Design.
Looking back to the home's geographic roots, design firm Mise en Scène Design constructed a new frame around the original fireplace with fieldstones gathered from the property. Together with the wooden beams, it gives this living room a sense of history.
A fireplace in a kitchen may seem like a cumbersome hazard, but it's definitely not in this one by Richard T. Anuszkiewicz. A long, low unit was installed to make this eat-in chef's kitchen feel cozier and more like a living room. A niche for stacked firewood adds to the atmosphere.
To make this living room feel (and look) larger, London-based architecture and interiors firm McLaren.Excell opted to showcase the chimney rather than cover it with drywall.
For maximum glamour, make your fireplace the moment with a custom architectural feature. A new tiled archway framing this outdoor fireplace makes it the place to be après-swim.
If you want to make a brick fireplace feel new again, dark paint can be moody and unexpected, like on this inky black fireplace in a Nannette Brown-designed living room. It looks elevated, sophisticated, and clean (because black paint conceals soot!). The same approach is used throughout the room, which is enveloped in Amherst Gray paint from Benjamin Moore. An antiqued mirror plays up the moodiness while still bouncing light.
Designer Andy Beers of Ore Studios describes this cantilevered living room as a "large transparent jewel box that hangs over the forest floor." So "seating is transfigured around a fireplace for a kind of campfire sense."
Here's more proof that a nonworking fireplace can still be a valuable feature. Alison Victoria used hers to display a collection of candles for that classic cozy warmth you'd get from a roaring fire. Try clustering some pine-scented candles to get that flickering flame effect and forest fragrance.
Lydia Pursell covered all the surfaces (excluding the floors) in a blue-green paint color, from the trims to the fireplace surround and mantel. It's a bold and unexpectedly mod approach in a classic dining room that exudes confidence.
In her Brooklyn brownstone, designer Delia Kenza honored the original style of the home's architecture, ornate granite and all. She inserted a new (but antique-looking) wood-burning stove that produces real fire but eliminates the risk of the indoor smoke you'd get from a masonry fireplace.
A display of black and white prints leans casually above the mantel in this clean, quiet vignette designed by Jeffrey Dungan. The restraint and modesty of the color story mixed with the simplicity and casualness of the artwork create a distinct beauty that's both mysterious and approachable.
A large, semicircle sofa in this living room designed by Aamir Khandwala is a great way to ensure that no one fights over a nice view of the trees as well as the fireplace. Plus, it allows for good conversation and visual intrigue.
Kristin Fine painted the exposed brick fireplace surround white to complement the crisp and modern interiors without stripping the home of its farmhouse personality.
This cozy living room boasts timeless beauty with Spanish revival and midcentury roots. To play up the history-rich antiques and colorful tiles, opt for a similarly well-crafted screen, as Madeline Stuart did here.
Designer Shawn Henderson brought this 19th-century apartment back to its former glory by knocking down a flex wall separating the living and dining rooms. This enhanced the natural sunlight and also re-centered the fireplace. "It was about stripping the apartment down to a more humble interior," says Henderson. Whitewashed pine floors and installed reclaimed wood beams to the ceilings. He leaned some logs inside the firebox and forwent a screen since the fireplace is just decorative.
Natalie Chong's four-story townhouse loft space in a former 1900s church in Toronto's West End doesn't actually have a fireplace in it! he created the illusion of a fireplace by placing a tall console table against the center wall and then stacked wood under it to stand in for a real fireplace.
To give a more traditional fireplace a youthful feel, paint the surrounding walls an unexpected color and decorate the room with eclectic furniture, modern art, and Avant grade light fixtures. Romanek Design Studio opted for a dusty rose tone to complement the warmer grains in the marble.
This statement fireplace in a living room designed by Heidi Caillier incorporates the best of both a classic mountain chalet and a contemporary family farmhouse. A floating beam installed horizontally over the stone wall acts as a makeshift mantel.
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