Replace the Fireplace Part II

Today's post is a continuation of yesterday's- "replace the fireplace". My client, I'll call her, Janie, is considering replacing her fireplace. Her current fireplace is out of proportion for her room. It is large and overbuilt in scale for the size of the room that it is in. The only way to really take care of that is to take it out.

The fireplace is a main architectural element of the home. As such, whenever replacing the fireplace, I would always suggest that the style be consistent with the architecture. So, what is the architecture of Janie's home? It is traditional. It is not French, Victorian, Tudor, Craftsman, or Greek. It is a beautiful traditional, California home. As such, a flagstone fireplace would work nicely.

Even after selecting a material like flagstone, there are still a lot of choices to make. #1- color. Flagstone comes in a number of different colors, from gray to brown, and light beige. In Janie's place, I would suggest something on the lighter side.

#2- the mantle. Above you see a wood stained mantle with just corbels, below is one with side columns also. I would only add the side columns if for some reason I wanted to limit the size of the hearth. I prefer the look without them.

Your mantle can be wood or stone. With wood, it could be more traditional, like the one below, or more casual, like the chunky ones above.You could also choose to have no mantle at all. I would only go this direction if I were looking for a more contemporary "zen" atmosphere to the room.For Janie's place, I like the idea of using stone for the mantle, like the picture below. She already has wood built-ins on either side of the fireplace, and I feel like using a matching wood (white) would look wrong, and introducing a new wood would not tie them together, but rather look more disconnected. We want the whole room to look perfect, not just the fireplace.All of these pictures show the stone extending to the ceiling, but this does not have to be the case. We could have the stone go only as high as the mantle if we choose, then just finish the wall off with drywall. We could do this for a couple of reasons. First of all- it would be less expensive. Secondly, it would be more understated. The photo below can give you some kind of idea of how it would look going up only that high.So many decisions, and we haven't even decided on flagstone yet- check in tomorrow for some more options. Tell me what you think? Any favorites of the flagstone?

Photos from "What's in Style Fireplace" by Joanne Still, and "Sunset, Ideas for Great Fireplaces". Thanks.