Once upon a time this gorgeous fireplace was covered in a 1980s pink marble which seriously dated the otherwise newly updated home. Now with its bold faux black marble cladding, a beefed-up mantle and a new firebox, it has become an anchor to the soft, warm and elegant décor that surrounds it.

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As with most homeowners, the idea of cladding a pre-existing – or in this case – a brand new fireplace – in black is a bit scary. Our Glacier project homeowners where worried the black will overpower the room when in fact, it does the opposite. Black marble settles the black firebox into its background and helps – minimize the void of the TV. A fir mantle and back panel tie in with the flooring and the coffee table while the painted bookcase repeats the wall colours.

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This corner fireplace had a pre-existing deep charcoal, random slate facade and a stained pine mantle and felt like a bulky dark box. The solution was to paint the drywall in the angled corner a slate colour matched charcoal and by bringing the colour all the way to the ceiling, the fireplace went from short and stalky to tall and slender. Such a small change, such a large impact.

This large peninsula fireplace in our Ash project originally had a dated and painted brick façade with a floating slate hearth. We covered it in Realstone using a ledgestone pattern. Acting as a room divider between the living and dining spaces, the ledgestone creates a unique and stunning natural focal point. You will notice the floating hearth was also removed and the 3-sided fireplace was converted into a one=sided firebox. Overtop of the Realstone, a floating Douglas-fir mantle was instaled and displays a collection of the homeowners’ pottery..

Here on the west coast we don’t see a lot of natural brick, so when it presents itself, I say embrace it! Luckily our Oyster Garden customers agreed with us. Keeping the brick is such an authentic way of celebrating the history of a home – if it is in good condition. In this beachfront home, the windows looked out onto only natural elements – trees, sand, driftwood, and the ocean. The brick fireplace adds a stunning layer of natural material to the home’s interior. That said, the original fireplace lacked a few of the slate pieces on the hearth’s edge. We refaced the edge of the floating hearth and added a mantle, both created with locally sourced Douglas-fir. The fir details are a repeating element to the edge grain fir cabinetry used in the kitchen and wine bar areas.

While the Realstone ledgestone we installed on the previous peninsula firebox featured earthy tones, the Realstone ledgestone in our Treeline project fireplace is a flat charcoal in colour. We chose this version to play off of the black marble hearth and black marble backsplash used in the kitchen. For this pre-existing wood fireplace, we also framed it out with Douglas-fir posts and mantle and continued the fir look with a fir panel above the Realstone. All the wiring for the TV is hidden behind the panel, which is removable for easy access.

Realstone Ledgestone was also used to face this new gas fireplace in our Meadows project. Originally the wall had a floating niche in it, created by the original home builder in case a future homeowner wanted to install a fireplace. For this reason, the new fireplace does not project into the room more than a few inches. To hide the sides of the ledgestone we ran Douglas-fir boards up the sides to the new Douglas-fir mantle above, routering the edges for a softer look. Here, as in most of our custom fireplaces, the mantle depth is sized according to the homeowner’s wishes.

This new fireplace also fits into a niche, but in this case the niche was much deeper and ran floor to ceiling. The fireplace facade is maple with Purple Heart inlays on the header. The mantle itself is unique with its angled sides and even the travertine mosaics have been specialized by removing some and replacing them with Raccu tiles. This electric fireplace has its muse in a traditional Macintosh Mantle, which is interesting because the home is on Apple Street!

Continuing the theme of niches, this wall niche in our Ash Street project was big and we where able to flank the new custom fireplace with a shelving on both sides, without actually protruding into the room. Because the wall backs onto the home’s entry porch, and since there is already two gas fireplaces in the house, the homeowner opted for an electric fireplace.

The (north) Alder Street fireplace is a work of art with its solid 5x8 corner routered Douglas-fir posts on either side flanking a built up fir mantle. Above the mantle is a horizontal grain Birds Eye Maple panel while below it is 3 horizontal grain Birds Eye Maple panels with Walnut, Maple and Purple Heart pinstriping between them. Both panels are removable for easy access to either wiring or the original fireplace brick facade.

Black marble is one of those classic materials that looks awesome in any décor – such as this mid-century modern home with most of its original details intact. Why change the cladding to the fireplace on an original mid-century home you ask? Because the original brick had been painted numerous times and was no longer the feature it should be. We did keep the original slate on the floating hearth whose lines blend seamlessly with the graining within the faux marble porcelain tiles. The niche above the fireplace will soon display 3 original photo giclees taken by the homeowner herself.

Made from Birds Eye Maple, local Cortes Maple and Purple Heart with a small trim of mosaic tile around our Beaver Lodge fireplace, the millwork was installed prior to the new gas fireplace. The Beaver Lodge firepace was built in 3 sections, making it easy to pull out the firebox when it was time for the fireplace to be installed. A 4^th part – the TV panel, is also a separate unit that can be removed for easy access to wiring which travels hidden behind the shelving to pre-existing outlets next to the left cabinet.

In our Vermont fireplace project, the homeowner wanted the look of stone but because her living space is narrow, she wanted something that projected into the room as little as possible and these stone look ceramic tiles are only 3/8” thick - perfect.