February 6, 2013

Finding your Fireplace

The family room can be so warm and cozy with a fireplace in it.  Many homes have a traditional red brick fireplace, like this one.  When you combine that with big screen tv's and media centers the results can be a bit on the scary side.  Wires, screens, speakers, ventilation, speakers, modems, more speakers and remote control devices can kink any great plan to make your room comfortable and inviting.
Before
The room above lacked balance and visual appeal, to say the least.  There were a couple of attempts before me to make the room function for this family and look great too.  The first thing I looked at was the color combinations that were already present to help bring features come forward or recede.  I used the beautiful African Slate floors for my color cues (greens, golds, and browns).  Next on my agenda was to create balance.  I added a mantel and columns to the fireplace and additional doors and shelving to the large opening for the massive tv niche.  The largest hurdle I encountered here was convincing the homeowner to paint the red brick fireplace. It needed to be done because there were too many competing distractions in the room and the patterning on the fireplace was a major one.
During
Needless to say I sold the idea and the room was transformed.  I decided to have all of the niche areas painted black which helped to reduce the magnitude of the large screen tv.  The walls, ceiling and fireplace were painted in a buttery golden color.  The mantel, columns, crown and base molding were all painted a milky chocolate color (which was similar to the color of the furniture in the room).  As you can see, it is a much different room from where we began.  The fireplace is still center stage but without all of the clutter, chaos and distractions.  
After

2 comments:

Unknown said...

So cool. You have a talent!

Sacramento Diner said...

Beautiful! I love the transormation. The room now has a cozy warm elegance.