One more thing! lol Don't paint that fireplace

I think it may be fine to lime wash your fireplace. Do you want it to look less rustic?

Thanks for the comments. Much appreciated. Funny everyone said no TV. I agreed so I had a lift installed just above the fireplace and the TV drops out of the ceiling. You might be able to see the trap door in the picture. The house was painted with Benjamin Moore Swiss coffee. White is hard. It some light it is cool. In other light it is warm. Swiss coffee is supposed to be warm. I’m surprised so many people said leave the stone. It is so brown. But that is why I ask people their opinions. I’ve considered doing art. Maybe we could simple modern art? Here is some other pictures of the house so you can see the vibe we are going with.

Oh. Now I remember the problem with art. See the left cabinet. It has three skinny areas. The right cabinet has space for art.

Doors are off the bottom because the painters haven’t put them on.

I would remove all the shelves from both left and right. Not just the central portion. So there will not be 3 skinny areas on the left, just one space.

If your TV is as high as I think it is, with the drop down, I hope your furniture is far enough from the TV to view it comfortably. As far as the shelving, I would take it all out, leaving the lower door sections and put art over them.

I agree with putting back the cabinet doors on both sides. The vertical dividers on the shelving above the cabinets is distracting. Consider removing the shelving and replace with a large, vertically shaped piece of artwork on each side if you want to simplify the look.

I think a nice lime wash would be fine.

some examples for the book cases

Could make each bottom parts just one large cabinet with doors for DVD’s, remotes, blankets, etc.
Then on the top parts remove all the interior shelving parts to create one large art niche left of fireplace and one large art niche right of fireplace.
Now with the “shelf” from the cabinet below you have lots of art options. Could do two large statues. Or two pictures.

Sounds like the consensus is the shelving is out dated. Maybe the right answer would be to put a simple wall in front of the shelves and hide them behind Sheetrock. We do have some electronics but I could move those. If the shelves are killing the look should I just take them out? Would I have to fill the blank walls with something or leave them blank? FYI. The lower doors are going back on. They were just off for painting.

I’m hardly one to talk about painting or lime washing your fireplace. I painted ours white and wouldn’t change it, but ours was originally red brick. Yours is such rustic stone, and if you think it’s too brown, I see it as working beautifully with the floor. Both of these elements compliment one another perfectly. Yes, fewer shelves and a simplified style on either side of the fireplace, but please consider how grand your room looks without even a piece of furniture in it!

The shelving would look much better if it was not divided into all those little cubbyholes.

im throwing a wrench in the discussion! I love the idea of the built in shelves! Right now I would say yes put bottom doors back on- and make the shelves have a uniform look- but having them have a wood peoce down the middle to divide The long shelf into two for two cubby areas for styling- not sure if that is making sense!

and I like the idea of lime wash/ filing the fireplace- I think it would look good! But I also like how it looks now too:)

** either do one long shelf on both sides or divide in half/ I like dividing in half for more styling

The main problem to me is that both upper bookcase sections on the left and right of the fireplace look to be the same width but for some reason the vertical dividers were not created symmetrically. That is jarring to the eye.

I personally love upper bookshelves and agree with others here who suggest taking out the vertical dividers and having either just long shelves or at most one center divider, as HU above posted pictures of

In case anyone is wondering. The right cabinet housed a TV and that is why the cabinets are not symmetrical.

I think simple shelves on both sides that are removable so if you want they could come down and be replaced by art. Myself, not a fan of large art, but smaller pieces, hence the shelves to put them on. With white or light walls, I would not paint the fireplace. The color alone makes it the focal point. Beautiful. Good luck with whatever you decide. And please post after pictures.

Definitely lighten the fireplace and paint the mantel. The bookcases are fine they just have too many shelves in them.

I’m the wife. I’m loving and appreciating all the comments and feedback. Thank you so much!!!

Do you all like the white?

Whitewashed with simple shelves...

And with no shelves but some art

I love the floors and fireplace.
I would definitely simplify the shelves to make them symmetrical. Instead of lightening the stone with a lime wash what about glazing the white shelves and cabinets with a Carmel color from the stones? You could also paint the back of the shelves in a light shade from the stones. this would help the stone blend into the wall unit and be a neutral backdrop for an art or decor on the shelves. you will need to try alot of samples on cardboard to find the right shade.
Just filling the shelves will help the stone stick out less. So wait on lime washing decision til you redo shelving.

This is a good suggestion. Thank you. Yes, once the fireplace gets product, we can’t go back!

Jean did a very helpful mock-up. I like the fireplace the way it is- the brown color of the stones provides nice contrast with the white and looks great with your flooring (which is beautiful, btw). I do like the white paint for the walls and the shelving. The simplified shelving looks much better. I would do one fewer shelf on each side so the vertical distance between shelves is greater. I would do shelves if you either have nice decorative items to display or you want to simply fill them with books for a home library. My personal preference would be one large vertically shaped piece of artwork on each side as shown instead of shelving. One website to look for large artwork is Great Big Canvas. Artwork printed on canvas need not be framed. Of course original artwork is great but large pieces may be quite expensive.

I just noticed that the mock-up shows one fewer shelf on the right side and to me that looks better than the left side.

Yes, too many shelves. Let me
Look for the photo of before how we had it. Overall just too many shelves and asymmetry.

Obviously the chair got moved. 🤣 Right now we are cleaning primer dust the painters left for us. 😩 Then we can move all this furniture and decor stuff back exactly how it was, just with different wall colors. I’ll post a pic when that is done. We have a LOAD of dust to clean. Probably 2 hrs worth. It really does look good before. However, we got so tired of bad lighting plus the brown.

Before. With white pots from Crate & Barrel

Ok. We moved our furniture back and put some pots back. We leveled the shelves. Some pots changed. Thoughts?

White on white. Way way to plain. Add some color please

Why all the pots?

Your first post you’d already painted the shelves. Which is unfortunate actually. Now seeing the original light wood shelves, I really think it looked better. I like the white but the wood ones really had definition. Oh well water under the bridge. Now I would just suggest you remove the many verticals other than if you have to add one up the middle for support. And shelves like Jean shows on the right side but without that shelf at the very top. It’s too shallow to display things on that top shelf.

The white with your white chairs is not good. The wood was amazing. Change the chairs?

Do you have a library? If not, simplify the shelving and add books. Le voilà!

I think I understand what you want to achieve... you're using the white pots on white shelves to add visual interest without competing with the main focal point, the fireplace. Is that correct? And it's a good technique.

If that's the case, what's hindering you are the vertical elements in the shelving as well as the depth differences. When I look at your latest picture I can see you want a space that's both visually interesting and relaxing. And I think you're going in the right direction. However my eyes are drawn to the vertical elements of the shelving, which means my focus is bouncing around a bit. The fireplace loses its role, and the result is not as relaxing as it could be. The chairs help hide the difference in depth. However the vertical shelving elements are very domineering.

If you can work from the horizontal element created by the mantel with sturdy thick shelves on the same horizontal plane, that would be a good starting point.

Hoping you find the solution that works best for you,

Alicia

First, the oversized, dark, chunky mantel shocked me; then while I was reeling from that, the unbalanced cabinetry knocked me on over! Then I saw the parquet floors and decided they must have been imported from some European estate. Lots of contradictions here and all of it competing for attention. I'm a fan of black and would probably stain the parquet black, but you might not like that with your brown sofa. You could paint the shelves black (maybe even the beams.) That could help make the fireplace more the focal, IMO. Here are black floors and shelves.

Bettendorf, Iowa - Jennifer Home (by Windmiller Design) · More Info

Here are some pretty busy shelves but they are symmetrically balanced. I find your white pots are too bland and don't command any interest, but maybe that's what you're striving for.

Fireplace Seating · More Info

Another idea: you could simplify the shelves and put some wallpaper on the back of the cabinet to add contrast. Then your white pots would show up. The wallpaper could be mounted on foamcore and just placed behind the shelves, that way it can be easily removed or swapped out at your fancy. Also add some pillows to pull the color into the furniture. I will try to mock up later.

I am not a pro, but if you like the shelves, then I suggest taking out the vertical pieces. If you don’t, then consider artwork. However, the white pots are really pretty and would look better if the back walls were a darker color (or if you put some wallpaper there). I understand that having a huge dark fireplace is disarming. You could do a lightening wash on it to tone it down. But I would try to work with it as is because it complements your stunning floors and you’ve already got white shelves next to it. Your house looks gorgeous!

Well. There is a consensus that the vertical components are not right. Unfortunately these are custom built cabinets and removing those vertical elements would require a complete rebuild as they are not easily separated from the base. Yes Alicia. My goal was to draw you eyes away from the busy cabinets, make them recede into the wall as much as possible and draw ones eye to the focal point the fireplace. My next step was going to be to lighten the fireplace and add a very large modern black mirror to again minimize the busy cabinets. Cabinets shelves are hard. Once you have shelves you must put something in them. And that adds busyness and draws one’s eyes away from your focal point. This is why I wondered if adding cabinet doors to the top or covering the cabinets with Sheetrock to get rid of them would be best. FYI this room is very grand. In the middle is the dining table and then there is an open kitchen. The kitchen cabinets are a deep blue/black and the countertops are going to be white quartz. I’ve thought about painting the fireplace cabinets the color of the kitchen cabinets( Benjamin Moore Soot) but I thought the darkening the kitchen cabinets would compete with the fireplace.

The look of the white pots on the white shelves is... ghostly.

If you want the focus to be the fireplace hang a large piece of art above the mantle, not a mirror. Also, lightening the color of the fireplace will reduce the contrast with the white cabinetry/shelving and make it less prominent.

What would a mirror reflect? The kitchen?

Yes. The dining room and the kitchen. It’s one grand room.

Hey everybody. Thanks for your questions. This is Leigh. It’s usually Bill, but I pop on here time to time. Okay, what about painting the shelving an off white like this hallway. (We want to try to save costs on not having to have a carpenter redo the shelving.). This is our girls’ hallway with the original door and trim color. The walls are painted the same warm white that is throughout the house. First, Bill Gates the old off white doors and trim with the white. I kind of like it. The floors are the same as in the living room. Question is what if the cabinetry is painted kind of an off white almond like here? Do you think these hallway colors clash and we need to choose a different wall color? Or leave it? Thanks.

Bill Gates?

Here's a pretty combo believed to be Navajo White walls and White Dove trim.

Horse Country Home · More Info

Txandmt...Bill Gates?! I wish!!!! If that were the case we’d demo the entire flipping house and rebuild...on a mountain...overlooking the ocean, ie NOT in OKLAHOMA! (This is his wife. 😆😆😆)

Hey. I am sorry my wife(None None) hijacked this thread. I thought I would go back and update every on the original post topic of fireplace shelving. After considering removing the shelving and whitewashing the stone we ultimately decided to paint the shelves” Black beauty” by Benjamin Moore. I like it more than I expected. The walls are Swiss coffee.