OT Fireplace help needed

14 years ago

I know this is not related to kitchens specifically, but as the great room is open to the kitchen, the fireplace is visible from the kitchen and the mantel needs to relate to the kitchen island through stain color and through style I hope you don't mind helping me out with your opinion.

DH & I are planning to mount a tv over the fireplace. We've found this inspiration pic.

We like the horizontal lines, which should allow us to mount the tv at a comfortable viewing height. I'm trying to balance a transitional style with a slight leaning towards contemporary (or is it modern? - I can never remember which is which).

Our builder is going to install the Napoleon LHD45. We really like the look of the 1x2-inch tumbled travertine stacked stone mosaic and were set on going with that as the surround. The designer at the tile store agreed it would look good if we used 8"-9" of it as the surround so it would really show off the effect of the stacked stone. The other day, I got thinking about the actual size of the finished fireplace and realized that if we went with a 9" tile surround and then added the wood surround, our tv would sit about 56" above the floor and that is too high.

Will it look okay to only have 5" of this stone mosaic showing around the fireplace or should I look for something else? DH thinks it will look fine. I'm afraid it will look like we cheaped out and it won't really show the tile or the fireplace well. We could use a second (third, fourth, etc) opinion.

This image is my best effort in Olioboard to convey a 5" tile surround of the 1"x2" travertine. I don't know of a way to show the wood part of the surround using Olioboard. I've drawn it up in Visio and can add it below if that will help.

This is similar to the tile we will be using (same size, same manufacturer, but we will use a lighter color).

I have to make a decision on the tile surround before I meet with the cabinet maker to design the mantel and surround. I need to do that in the next week or two (before we dig) so this is my priority right now.

(please excuse my not knowing the correct terms for all of the parts of the fireplace)

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Comments (5)

Cloud Swift
14 years ago
What are the clearance rules for distance of flammable surfaces from the fireplace box? That could be a factor.

What is your counter material? A surround in the same granite or quartz as your counter would help tie it in, would fit with a sleek contemporary look and work better as a thinner border.

Or you could use the wood just for the mantel rather than surrounding the stone.

We did a wood fireplace and started out looking at putting the TV over the fireplace, but it always ended up too high. We ended up putting a taller 4' wide fireplace to the side so the TV could be centered at the right height. Our surround and is in the same material as our counter and the mantel and family room cabinets are natural cherry - same material as our kitchen cabinets. We selected a different door style and used walnut knobs on the family room cabinets to differentiate them from the kitchen.

A gas fireplace might let you get the TV lower. How low do you feel you need it to be? We experimented on heights using a piece of cardboard before we settled on the design. We found that we wanted the bottom of the TV to be about 38" above the floor which doesn't give much height to work with.
lavender_lass
14 years ago
How much stone is showing in your inspiration picture? It doesn't look like 9" but it's difficult to tell, for sure.

In your inspiration pic, it looks like there's a lot less black showing, around the glass than in your mock up. I like the smaller line of metal and if you could do that, even 5" should look good, with the wood around it. I think as long as you have more stone than black, it will look beautiful :)

Whatever you do...don't make the TV too high. It will bug you forever and the stone is a small accent in an overall lovely room!
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shmeal
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for your comments, cloud swift and lavender lass. I appreciate it. I think I may not have clarified my question as well as I could have so I'm going to try again and I beg your patience as I try to explain what I'm struggling with. Anyone else with an opinion, PLEASE jump in.

In the design I've created (based on the inspiration pic) there should be 5" of tile and 7" of wood surrounding the firebox. The tile designer felt that if we install the stacked travertine mosaic tile we should have 9" of tile around the firebox to really show off the effect of the running bond stacked tile. I think that will result in the surround being too wide, too tall, and will end up being too massive for the room. It also makes the tv way too high on the wall. DH really likes the look of the stacked mosaic tile and would like to use it.

So my question is if I only have 5" of tile showing on each side of the firebox will it look okay to use a 1"x2" stacked stone? That's what I'm struggling with. I'm afraid it will look silly to have only 2-1/2 stones showing between the firebox and the wood.

I think we should either go to a 1" mosaic tile or go find a remnant of marble. The island countertop is Cafe Creme granite, which I think will be too busy for the inspiration look, and the perimeter counters are Hanstone Tiffany Grey quartz, which I think will be too dark.

I found a better picture of the fireplace that doesn't show the optional trim around it (thanks for asking about that wide trim Lavender - it made me really get into the manual and their website and dig for the answer about the size of the trim.) and I put together a quick sketch showing the 1x2 inch tile on one side of the fireplace and a 1x1 inch tile on the other side. I left off the slab option because that is what is showing in our inspiration pic above.

What is your vote?
lavender_lass
14 years ago
I like the 1" x 2"...I think it looks great! :)
dilly_ny
14 years ago
I am wondering if the small tiles make the FP look busy, whereas your inspiration pic seems to have more of a calm and streamlined effect.

Why not mount your FP closer to the floor and only have tile on sides and top?

Maybe I'm not a good one to comment since my tv is going to be high, up above the FP. It seemed to me that once I decided to put the tv above the fp, I couldn't avoid mounting it higher than ideal. It's a can't have your cake and eat it too situation.

Good luck.