How to Design Fireplaces With Built-In Shelves
A fireplace is often a strong focal point of any room. By adding built-in shelves, this space will become the focal point wall. A nice design ensures that the area is inviting. Since shelving on each side of a fireplace is an ideal place to display books and art objects, you can design the whole area to hold personal mementos and treasures. Consider displaying family photos, favorite books and objects found on trips or nature walks. A cozy fire will create ambiance for sitting and relaxing in this space. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Home design books
- Sketch pad
- Measuring tools
- Graph paper
- Colored pencils
Instructions
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Look over home design books to get ideas. Notice the spacing of shelves in relation to the firebox on appealing designs. Plan to build the fireplace wall with safety in mind, so keep shelves a few feet away from the fire itself. Create the area to look balanced from across the room. Make sketches to try various shelf spacing, such as horizontal spacing 2 feet apart from floor to ceiling.
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Measure the fireplace wall before finalizing detailed ideas. Use graph paper to define exact proportions of the fireplace. Sketch overall shelving height to fit the fireplace. Plan shelving only 5 feet in height, for example, if the fireplace is tall and narrow. Don't overpower the fireplace area with shelving. Draw floor-to-ceiling shelves spaced 12 inches apart to flank the fireplace as another option. Experiment with a design that allows for closing doors over the shelves, for example. Plan to secure shelving to wall studs for holding heavy objects.
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Design a visually appealing fireplace facade, if you're in the building process. Sketch the space with cut stone, stacked stones, bricks with mortar and bricks with hidden mortar. Plan the whole area as a unified wall unit, using masonry materials to add texture and strength to the space. Keep in mind you can use a fireplace with gas logs with a flatscreen TV over the mantle space.
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Plan to add glass fireplace doors. Install these to keep dust and ashes down. Incorporate glass doors over the firebox area to protect small children who visit or play in the room. Keep in mind that you can open the doors at any time to reveal a roaring fire, but glass doors offer options for covering the fire when desired.
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Design colors and finishes for all materials. Consider all possibilities including gray stacked stones, mahogany shelving or shelves with an oak finish. Use colored pencils to experiment with various colors of brick, different colors for painted shelving and different finishes for the mantle piece. Plan the colors and finishes the way you desire, and furnish the rest of the room to blend with this wall space. Incorporate neutral colors in the whole fireplace area, for the most part, so that any sofa or flooring will look good with the fireplace wall.
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Tips & Warnings
Add crown molding to the top of the fireplace area for an upscale look. Plan to install good-quality wood trim across the front of wood shelving materials for a finished look.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
