Turn a Chimney Breast Into A Focal Point.

Most houses used to be built with a standard chimney and traditionally it was there to just satisfy that one purpose, provide space for the chimney to go out through the house and carry away the harmful combustion gases.
But in the ever changing world of interior design, who says the chimney breast can't become a focal point in the room in its own right? Instead of acting as a mounting plate for a fireplace or wall-hung picture. So why not make the chimney breast itself a focal point? Combine it with a fireplace to really create that focal point of the living room.

In this article we look into just how to create that look in just a few simple steps. Doing away from the matching colourscheme across the whole wall room and going for a feature wall and chimney breast.

To achieve the look illustrated left we started with the wall itself either side of the chimney breast, to truly make the chimney breast a focal point the wall is painted in a warm off white colour, such as Magnolia. Which while not dominating means that the white walls aren't harsh and dominating.

We then went for a lovely contrasting floral wallpaper for the chimney breast iteself, we went for Marciana Floral Wallpaper, Cranberry Red & Natural wall paper by Laura Ashley (available here) This stunning floral wallpaper features pearlescent inks and a washable coating. The deep cranberry reds contrast with the pale background to really accentuate the chimney breast.

To top it all off we paired the lovely wallpaper with the Aura Suite from Drugasar. This stunning solid stone fireplace complements the neutral wall colour either side of the chimney breast while the downlights and contrasting black granite back panel highlights the fire in the centre.

Finally a colour coded vase and ornament completes the look!

Designing A Contemporary Living Room

We all want a stunning living room, it's one of the rooms you spend the most time in and, if you're something of a social person ( I know I am ) you host many a friend or guest in the living room for social events.
With this in mind and news from some of my friends in the industry that the newly launched House2Home Megastore has just launched some more furniture in conjunction with BM Furniture we thought we'd plan our ideal living room! We have based it around the typical new-build semi-detached property. On average measuring 16feet by 16 feet, including a staircase to the first floor on the connecting wall and the front door. As with most new build properties our "dream home" doesn't feature a chimney or a chimney breast. But we've got some ideas of what to put inside our living room.

Below you'll see the plan of the room complete with staircase with the wall at the bottom of the image and left hand side external walls.First things first, lets start with the fire! We wanted to create a contemporary look and feel and nothing shouts contemporary like a Hole-In-The-Wall fire! Without a chimney breast thou we're limited to balanced flue fires. Due to the size of the room we didnt want anything in a massive false chimney breast that would dominate the room. So we decided on the Kinder Limours (shown right). With it's contemporary graphite fascia and contrasting steel trim surrounding the aggregate stone effect and flames in the centre, combined with the wall-mounting plate meant that we recess the fire into a slimline chimney breast, further emphasising the fire as a focal point in the room, rather than risk the possibility of losing it in the large wall.
On the left you can see a mock up we did of the Limours on our living room wall, as I think you'll agree we think it would look fab! (Looks a bit lonely but we're on our way to furnishing a lovely living room)
Offering a whopping 4.2kW heat output and efficiency rating of 87% the Limours would allow us to turn the heating down for the rest of the house and just enjoy the warmth from the fire in a cold winter's evening.
Now for the sofa... One that caught our eye was the Dante from BM furniture and House2Home Megastore, this stunning leather corner group would be perfect to create that enclosed seating area feel while not dominating the room itself. Made of high grade category 10-35 or category 55 leather, the Dante is both a stylish and contemporary corner group, can either be used in the corner of a room or as we will be using it below to create an almost enclosed seating area around the fire. We also think it would create a nice social area, especially gathered around the fire, enjoying the warmth on a cold winters evening.

But obviously the room is far from complete with just a sofa and a fireplace, (as nice as they are!) We finished the room off with an Optia Black Wool Rug in front of the sofa to contrast the white leather and to offer something warm and fuzzy under-foot contrasting the cool feel of the wood laminate flooring.
The room is finished off with the Ponderosa style coffee table, CD/DVD unit and television stand in waxed pine, offering a completementary wood finish to that of the laminate floor.

Overall we think we've created a stunning contemporary living space that still offers that warmth you'd look for in your living room. We hope you agree and would like to thank FireplaceMegastore and House2Home Megastore for offering their help with our little project!