No, not subway tile. What's the overall exterior style of your home? That might set a tone that should be brought into the living room feature, the fireplace.

Our home is Cape Cod style. White siding and black shutters.

Looks like your FP may already be pretty much in the CC style according to this pic.

Charming Cape Cod · More Info

Beverly, the exterior of my house is Cape Cod. The interior is Coastal. I love the first picture you posted with the bead board black hearth. I don’t like the travertine—it was installed in 2003. The room has wall to wall carpet and is not an add-on. The thought behind using some subway tile on the surround was to tie in the subway tile in the kitchen backsplash. Would adding brick work with the bead board above?

Thanks for the clarification on the Cape Cod look. What I’m going for is a lighter fireplace. The travertine is outdated. What are your thoughts on painting the travertine white?

You do not need to tie in your kitchen tile to your fireplace. You could try painting the travertine white to see how you like it (might be an inexpensive solution).

another thought... expand on the coastal direction possibly with a river rock or a fun bright tile... ideas below. based on your art which to me is a bit modern and very fun, i would do something that is fun and coastal inspired.

love the color if your wingback chair by the way.. fun and coastal feeling. that color in a pattern tile would look fab for your fireplace.

Theresa, I love the fireplace with the blue and beige tile. I just ordered a sample from The Tile Shop. I found it through Google Photos Lens.

Beverly, I am going to paint the travertine white and see how it looks. Also, I am curious to see the tile sample. I like the mantle as well. Thanks so much for your suggestions!

can't wait to see it...

We did ours in Calacutta marble subway tiles, it turned out great

Some pics

So we went right over the brick. And had a mantle made. The tile on the floor is porcelain. I would not paint over stone

This is darling too my SIL’a beach house

These are some ones I really liked while planning ours:

You could probably find a stencil close to those patterned tiles. If you’re going to paint the tile anyway, may help you get closer to the inspiration blue and gray tile above without commitment. Cutting edge stencils is a good place to start.

Kathy Furt, what does your finished product look like?

Irol96— I like that idea!

Kathy Furt, sorry—I didn’t scroll up far enough to see your actual fireplace. It looks great with the Calcutta subways! You did a beautiful job!

I think I found exactly what I’m looking for. Just ordered a sample of this tile. Villa Azul.

I like that one alot too. so many options that will work great.

That one is gorgeous!!! Don’t bother painting or stenciling. It’s not that expensive to tile right over it