Reader Lisa is having some trouble figuring out how to make her off-center retro roman brick fireplace work for within her living room design. She initially wanted to paint the bricks white to match the built in bookshelf next to it, but her husband is a purist and prefers his brick au natural. How can Lisa make the room more aesthetically pleasing to her and still keep the natural brick for her husband? I’m thinking she was on the right track — but needs to reverse her thinking.
Lisa writes:
Hi Pam and Kate-
I love reading your blog – it’s definitely made me appreciate my 1954 rancher so much more.
I have a retro design dilemma though, and need your help! We have a Roman brick (as I understand) fireplace that sits asymmetrically at the end of our living room with a built-in shelf next to it. Previously, there was a 1980’s fireplace insert covering the fireplace, which we just removed (yay!), but now I’m not sure where to go. All the neighborhood houses have had the brick painted white or tan over the years – I initially lobbied for that option, but my husband is very anti-paint on original brick. I also read the blog on your site about staining brick, but I’m not sure if that’s the right solution for me either (is my brick too dark for that?) We recently painted the grey on the walls, which helps ‘tone down’ the red, so I’m starting to wonder if maybe I should just live with the brick the way it is – you know, ‘love the house I’m in.’ And beyond the bricks, I’m not sure what to do to the structure of the fireplace – does the asymmetrical thing work? We could cut the bricks off the side to make it centered in the space and with the hearth, add a traditional mantle and drywall above, remove the built-in in the corner – I’ve reached the point where I’m totally stuck. Help!
Our style is definitely artsy/eclectic with a little splash of collected random collected furniture thrown in (and a couple things left over from college that need to be thrown out!) Hubby is an arts and crafts furniture builder on the side, so there’s a lot of that influence in our home (I’m still waiting on a few key pieces for this room, clearly). We also have a family/extended family of artists, so we do our best to incorporate their work into our home – which is wonderful, but challenging at the same time.
I’m so hoping that you pick my room to help with – I’d love – no wait, I NEED a fresh perspective! And I’d love to do my rancher justice – I didn’t even realize how great it is until I started reading your blog (which I stumbled across while researching shingle colors last summer). Thank you!
Lisa
My key tip: Paint the built-in bookshelves to blend with the brick wall
Lisa — I think your fireplace is related to my house. I have probably the exact same roman brick covering 3/4 of the exterior of my retro ranch. That being said, I agree with your husband — I wouldn’t paint this brick — it is really beautiful just the way it is. Instead of painting the brick to match the bookshelf, why not paint the bookshelf to blend with the brick. By painting the bookshelf a medium brown that coordinates with your fireplace — it makes the whole wall on seem like one piece — thus reducing the off-center look. To further “center” the fireplace opening, try getting a tall plant (real or fake if you have a black thumb) to put on the other side of the room. The plant will occupy some of the “extra space” on that side of the fireplace and make the opening feel more centered.
I asked Lisa — even though she just painted the walls grey — if she would be game for Pam and me to each suggest a wall color for her living room for fun. Lisa says she is always open to suggestions, so Pam and I both set out to pick a color and also a rug for the space, keeping in mind Lisa and her husband’s love for Arts and Crafts style furniture and wanting to tone down the brick. I chose a warm creamy color for their walls (similar to Sherwin Williams Inviting Ivory) to tie in the color of the brick without bringing out the red tones. The rug I chose — found on Overstock.com — coordinates with what is already in the room and also has an Arts and Crafts feel to it.
Pam noticed that Lisa had green curtains and suggested a green from a story she wrote about Arts and Crafts paint colors — from California Paints called Jukebox. I found the green rug to coordinate with this color scheme from Shaw.
Even if Lisa didn’t want to change the grey walls, adding a rug to the room would help pull it together and make it feel more finished. This hand tufted grey wool rug from Overstock.com would be a good option.
UPDATE– After several suggestions from readers wondering how the wall color would look wrapped around onto the bookshelf, some further “digital painting” was done and the following shows how each wall color would look if it were carried onto the bookshelf.
Lisa, I hope I’ve given you a few ideas on how to make your space feel more symmetrical — without painting your brick fireplace.
Saundra says
I agree with Elaine, that switching the love seat and recliner would balance things visually. Another easy way to further balance the book case after painting is to put brown and tan spined books in the case. Or at least move the books with white spines toward the floor and therefore behind the furniture. Then what you see is the same color as the brick.
John says
Hi all,
I’d address several design issues. 1) either paint the bookcase to match the brick or wrap the wall color onto the bookcase as Cheryl suggest. I’d never paint brick but use an erasure pad on the soot marks..
2) move the couch away from the fireplace, it’s too heavy. Place the heavy furniture against the wall so if your not watching TV you can look out the window. Placing the TV in front of the window would block the view so you might try placing TV kitty corner by the fireplace or on the other side of the window. I actually used one of my bedrooms as a TV room that way when you have friends over you can enjoy conversation in the living room.
3) gray or green works well for wall color and accessorize rug and curtains accordingly.
It might help to remove all the furniture and bring pieces back in one at a time starting with the heavy pieces and profess to lighter pieces till you have it down. You might fine one or two chairs fewer works better.
Good luck and have fun!!
Warmly, AtomicHipster aka John
Paula says
Pam,
I think your idea of moving the tv in front of the window and the furniture against the wall is spot on. If nothing else, those sitting on the sofa or in the recliner would not have the bookcase in their line of vision. It would be to their side and not as obvious. It doesn’t look like the tv is overly big so it shouldn’t block the window that much. I put mine in front of a double window and changed out the furniture it was on for a shorter piece to minimize the blockage.
Tamara says
I also think you should paint the bookshelves the same colour as the walls to make that fabulous fireplace pop.
Jocelyn W. says
I agree, Tamara. I would:
– Paint the bookshelf the same color as the walls.
– In order to balance out the asymmetry, I’d have the main piece of furniture in the room be an l-shaped sectional (or sofa and love seat), with the long side on the window wall and the short side looking toward the fireplace.
– Then the TV could be placed opposite the window wall, either mounted or on a credenza.
– I’d also get a bigger piece of art to mount above the fireplace, probably metalwork (and wide rather than tall), which would both blend and contrast slightly with the brick and existing furnishings.
– Instead of mounting the art centered above the fireplace opening, I’d place it slightly to the left to improve the room’s balance that way.
– And I think the suggestion of a plant in that corner is a good one.
I know this is a lot of changes, but I think it’d all go a long way to making the room fit together in a way that looks deliberate.
Andreas Jordahl Rhude says
Good grief, do NOT paint the brick. You and every future resident will curse the day it was painted. Embrace the beauty of it. It is the focal point of the room. Have a small seating area facing the fireplace.
If ya really hate it so much, hang floor to ceiling curtain panels to cover it up. Go wall to wall. This way you don’t see but if you want to see it and/or use it, just pull the curtains back.
Elaine says
In one of our houses (built in 1955) we had a fireplace just like that and it bothered me no end. We hardly ever sat in that room. I love how this room looks with the book case there, and painted to coordinate with the fireplace. RE: The furniture, I would switch the loveseat and the recliner. It seems to me that would balance the room nicely.
pam kueber says
Kate and I talked about the furniture position and where to put the TV, etc. In the end, I suggested we leave things as is. I recognize that there is no “right” answer on such questions, but my personal view is:
Yes, our old house living rooms were not designed with the idea of big screen TVs in mind. But, we have them now. I have one. I personally believe: Just deal and arrange the furniture to face the TV as best it makes sense to really watch the TV. It’s a form vs. function thing, and I personally choose function — because we love to watch TV and want to be as comfortable as possible doing so.
Also, I don’t really ascribe to the “above the fireplace” placement — for the same basic reason: TVs are best viewed when they are at about eye level.
If you turn all the furniture toward the fireplace and put the TV cater-corner (sp?) in front of the bookcase, I think the room is really too narrow to arrange TV-viewing seating comfortably and still have entry/egress. In addition, I don’t think that aesthetically it would look all that pleasing to have a big fireplace hole next to a big TV hole.
One thing I *would* consider and might try, if it were my house: Put the furniture on the wall, put the TV in front of the window. Add sheer curtains under the draperies. In this way, the TV would not be reflecting window light when you watch it. And furniture sits so nicely on a hard wall. And in this case, it seems like the fireplace is a little closer to the window, so you’d buy a few inches of depth where the sofa would sit. Yes, you would have a big TV in your window. But the situation is what it is: We love our bigscreens, and they are only getting bigger. Lisa looks like she ain’t even at 50″ yet. She’ll be there soon enough, I bet!
Or, keep the TV where it is. You still need to block the light coming in from that window when the TV is on….
TV stories:
https://retrorenovation.com/2011/04/05/7-idea-to-house-your-modern-plasma-tv-into-a-retro-interior/
https://retrorenovation.com/2011/04/03/where-to-put-a-flat-screen-tv-in-a-retro-interior/
One more thought re possibly better integrating the asymmetry: Paint the bookcase the same color as the wall color, not while, not brown…. but “wrap that wall around”. In this way, I think the asymmetry of the design could make even more sense.
Again, just my two cents….
Carrie says
I have the exact same issue with my fireplace, it is way to one side of the room. I ended up putting a flat screen TV above the fireplace, since the fireplace was the off center! focal point anyway. We have some kind of program that can rotate family pictures/landscapes on the tv, so it is rather like having an ever changing picture above the fireplace. I thought I would hate it, but now I think it is fine.
Olivia says
Yes, I think putting the tv above the fireplace, or to the left of it, and focusing the furniture in that direction would help the fireplace feel less out of place.
puddletowncheryl says
I agree with Kate. Asymmetry doesn’t sit well with everyone. I love it, but it can be offputting to some. Most people prefer one over the other. So paint the shelves to unify the wall and add a rug and rearrange the furniture like James suggests. You’re so lucky to have a fireplace, so make it your focal point.
Kate says
Exactly puddletowncheryl. I am fine with asymmetry myself, but Lisa specifically wanted a solution to make the room look more symmetrical.
pam kueber says
You are right, Kate. Lisa: Take my suggestion to paint the bookcase the wall colors with a grain of salt — as you wanted “symmetry”! There is not right or wrong on this – just a preference. Also, there is such a thing as “balanced asymmetry” — a term I learned from a reader in this 10-second poll we did a while back — https://retrorenovation.com/2009/04/08/symmetry-or-asymmetry-you-choose/ — and I have adopted it as an important design idea/concept now!
James Owens says
I really dig this fireplace.
I say embrace the asymmetry. Paint the bookcase white to SHOW OFF the uniqueness of the design.
Also, there seems to be a lot of furniture in this room. If there is a way to cull a few pieces and open it up a bit it would allow for showing off this really great fireplace. I know that can be difficult if this is a family room.
Use the architecture as part of the design rather than disguising it.
I vote NEVER paint original brick. (Unless damaged)
Looking forward to seeing the solution you come up with.
James Owens says
Okay wait. I got confused with the before and after pics. Leave the bookcase white if it is already.
James Owens says
Something else I was thinking about, the focal point is around the TV. These houses from the 1950s were designed before everyone had TVs. With our house we tried to make the fireplace the focal point that the furniture is designed around. So maybe the furniture could face the fireplace with the TV in the corner by the bookcase.
This is a tough one.
Sandra says
I was initially confused, also. My suggestion would have been to, if the bookcase were to remain white, put white frames on the pictures, or put in an artificial plant/tree with white leaves on the left.
But I like several of the other ideas as well.
sarahjaneb says
I agree with embracing the asymmetry, but I would paint the bookcase a bright contrasting color rather than leave it white.