How to Design a Living Room with a Fireplace

Nothing makes a living room a cosier place to be than a fireplace. Whether it’s traditional, chic and modern or even a completely unique design, any living room can benefit from the aesthetics that a fireplace can bring to the space.

Fireplaces are no longer carbon copies of each other, all designed in the same way with no individuality. Today, you can get fireplaces to suit pretty much any home and make design choices so that the fireplace blends seamlessly into a room of any style. But with so many ranges of fireplace available and design choices to make, it can be tricky to know where to start. So, here are some top tips from us here at Smart Fire on how to design a living room to accommodate a fireplace.

The Focal Point

By no means does a fireplace need to be banished into the wall, far away and detached from everything else, an afterthought in terms of the room’s design. A fireplace can be used as the focal point of the room, demanding attention through the very nature of its architectural presence. Whilst the focal point in a living room would typically go to the likes of the television, this doesn’t have to be the case. Instead, you could hand over that responsibility to your fireplace, whether it’s a one set in a simple brick hearth or a dramatic suspended fireplace that sits in the centre of the room.

If your fireplace is taking centre stage, then the rest of your living room furniture should be arranged around it. Your largest seating piece, the sofa, should be set opposite the fireplace with the smaller seating arranged perpendicular to it. To really draw the eye, consider painting the wall opposite the fireplace a different colour to the rest of the walls; making it a feature wall that accentuates the fire’s presence.

Take, for example, this suspended fireplace from our GlammFire range. It takes centre stage in the middle of the room and completely draws the focus of the room into this one piece of furniture.

Accentuate Other Points

Sometimes, your living room might have features or other pieces of furniture that draw attention in addition to the fireplace. An exquisite portrait, for example, might end up competing with the fireplace to steal the room’s focus. If this is the case, instead of allowing these pieces to compete, arrange them in a fashion that means they are working together to create a cohesive style, where no one piece is drawing too much focus.

With a large television screen, it could be mounted on the wall above the fireplace and the seating pieces arranged in front of it. If space allows, consider having two seating areas, with one focused around the fireplace and the other focused by the windows, so guests can choose whether they wish to enjoy the fire or the view outside. For smaller spaces, the seating elements can be arranged in such a way that guests can enjoy both features together.

Adjust the Lighting

One of the key reasons to own a fireplace is so you can enjoy the wonderful, relaxing atmosphere that they bring to a room. There is nothing more soothing than sitting in front of a fire and watching the dancing flames as the warm light washes over you. But in a room with a bright, harsh main light this can ruin the affect. A fireplace by itself may not provide quite enough light to easily see, especially if the living room it is placed in is particularly large. Consider investing in a dimmer switch for your living room or utilising strategically placed lamps. This way, you can enjoy the gentle glow of your fire with additional low-level lighting, so you can still see clearly without ruining the aesthetic of bathing in firelight.

Dividing the Space

If you have an open floor plan living room that shares the same space as a kitchen or dining room, a fireplace can be the perfect feature for dividing up the space. With a suspended fireplace you can add it anywhere in the space to create this separation, or with a direct vent model, walls can be built around it to effectively separate the rooms. Ideally, you could opt for a two-sided fireplace which could be enjoyed from either room.

The Right Style

When it comes to choosing the right fireplace for your home, matching it to the current style of your living room is one of the most effective ways to fit the fireplace into the current design so you don’t have to completely redesign the living room. A brick-built fireplace will blend seamlessly into a traditional, cosy living room comprised of wooden fixtures and rustic coloured furniture. Whereas a unique, modern fireplace, such as a suspended fireplace or a fireplace inset into a wall, would be much more suited to a contemporary styled living room, with marble walls and sleek leather sofas.

If you’re looking for the perfect fireplace to transform your living room, we have a range of GlammFire bioethanol burners to make this dream a reality. GlammFire specialise in producing visually stunning and technologically advanced bioethanol fires that can be used to create virtually any look for your home.