Emma’s Fireplace Makeover

Outside of my dining room I haven't shared very much of Trey's and my house with you all yet. I'm not sure why, but the one area of my home that I've found the most difficult to work with/style is my fireplace. 

First off, don't you think "fireplace" is kind of a funny term? Next I'll be showing you my bedplace or my cookingplace. I'm just saying, it's sort of a no-duh term. Anyway. The truth is, I don't really use my fireplace. It might as well be fake because I've only used it once since I've owned my home (well over 2 years now). Here's why: We built a little firepit in our backyard. So anytime Trey and I want a fire we build it back there. Firepits are awesome to cook s'mores over or just sit around and chill with friends. So we don't have a lot of need for our fireplace, but it's still so pretty. 😉Here's what it looked like when I moved in. You can see I was prepping the walls to paint, but I snapped a few photos first in case I ever wanted to remember what the house looked like when I first moved in. That sort of yellowish tan is the color of many of the walls in the house when I bought it. I left the living room that color for almost a year as I just wasn't ready to commit to anything yet. And there stood the fire place. My house was built in 1985 and I think a lot of the features looked very… uh… 80s for sure. The tile around the fire place, for example. I just wasn't feeling that. Too dark brown and speckly for my taste. Should I replace them? Should I just paint them (with high heat paint, in case I EVER do use my fireplace)? I didn't know where to start.Here's my first attempt at re-imagining the space. I (finally) decided to paint the living room. I went with a white. I didn't paint the trim in the room so I left the wood trim on the fireplace as well. But I did paint the tile to match the walls. To me this was a big improvement. I hung a giant (blueprint) photo of Trey and I above it, and that was pretty much it. Since I didn't have a TV (yet) or much furniture this was the main focal point of the living room. So the giant picture, and the overall look seemed to fit. It felt balanced. But then I decided all white walls just wasn't me, and so the evolution continued. Eventually I took the plunge and painted all the walls a black shade. (!!!!!!) We also added a huge bookshelf, that also holds our tv set. I'll share more on that when I share my living room tour (this week!). I loved these changes, but it meant the white fireplace no longer made sense. So I painted it black, along with the trim (because I decided to paint the room trim black as well). The addition of the bookshelf and tv really changed focal point of the room too. So the fireplace is not as prominent a feature. I decided to paint stripes above it to give it more of a feature (so it wasn't ALL black). And now we can decorate it for the seasons. It feels very Halloween appropriate this month, as it has little pumpkins lining the mantle. During the holidays I plan to add a white garland and stockings. So yeah… we love the stripes! It feels very Night Circus to me. 🙂 Thanks for letting me share. I will be sharing more of my house soon so stay tuned! xo. Emma

Photos by Janae Hardy and Emma Chapman