How To Decorate Walls On Either Side Of Fireplace

How to decorate a fireplace wall without built-ins

Have you wondered how to decorate a fireplace wall without the expense and endeavor of congenital-in shelving? When we first moved into our home, I envisioned beautiful built-in shelves on either side of our fireplace. With a baby and a toddler, working function-time, and not wanting to spend thousands of dollars to have congenital-ins installed, I ended upwardly waiting on the thought. However, when I finally had a sliver of time to accost this space, I decided against built-ins because our fireplace is flush against the wall and congenital-ins piece of work best if the fireplace is bumped out into the room. Additionally, I wanted an affordable solution and something that I could do myself. In this post, How to decorate a fireplace wall without built-ins, I evidence you how to create a cute characteristic wall by creating the look of a more substantial fireplace and past adding open shelves.

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The Before Photograph

This photo was taken merely after I painted the walls a muted blueish-grey colour, Sparrow by Behr. Our fireplace was a standard builder-grade fireplace with a simple white surround and grayness porcelain tile. Nosotros were lucky enough to have the fireplace centered on the wall of our family unit room. If yous have a like orientation in your home, and then the approach I describe here will work without whatever modifications. Even so, if your fireplace isn't centered you can adapt my approach.

The Later on Photo

This paradigm shows how our family unit room was transformed by making a few simple changes. This infinite is also very functional. It's a space for family movie nights, and the storage units firm our big collection of board games and puzzles. I promise you'll proceed reading to find out all the details of how to decorate a fireplace wall without built-ins.

The Scope of the Piece of work

This projection could be completed in a weekend and everything is piece of cake with one exception- the crown moulding at the tiptop of the fireplace requires a compound mitre saw and some tricky calculations. You could simplify this part of the characteristic wall by using a simple trim slice at the top instead.

The components of this project are:

Find matching tables for either side of the fireplace. I repurposed some IKEA storage units that I painted in a soft white colour, adding ruched fabric panels to the glass to allow for storage of media and board games. When selecting your tables, choose something that offers storage and that is several inches narrower than the infinite you lot have available. I don't think IKEA carries this exact unit any longer, but if yous love IKEA, check out my posts 21 IKEA finds that look expensive or Peak 12 IKEA hacks to endeavor now.
Utilize the shiplap fireplace addition above the fireplace. Check out my easy shiplap tutorial here.
Install open shelving above the tables, accounting for TV and/or artwork acme. You can read the detailed DIY instructions for the open up shelves hither.
Fashion the open up shelves and fireplace mantle.

The tutorials mentioned in steps 2 and 3 should give yous all the data y'all need to install the shiplap and open shelves.

Styling the Open Shelves

I just recently changed up the styling of our open up shelves to transition from a farmhouse style to a slightly more mod style. I also wanted to add a little littoral fashion to this space and accomplished that through the utilise of artwork and natural materials. The color palette of white, stake bluish-grey, and light biscuit also lends the space a calm, beachy feel. Ane further goal of this refresh was to add more plants and greenery to this space, and I'chiliad happy with how that turned out.

Left side

To the superlative shelf, I added a fern in a white pot and a black and white print (a sketch by Brynn W. Casey). For the middle shelf, I placed a terrarium filled with air plants and a pair of white modern candle pillars. To the bottom shelf, I added a whimsical Llama canvas (by Kristin Llamas) and a stack of books with a mini air institute on acme. I reversed the orientation of the books to take the book spines at the back, in order to limit the number of colours used in the shelf decor.

Right Side

To the top shelf, I used a coordinating embankment print past Brynn W. Casey and a potted umbrella establish. Yous can click here to read more about my favourite houseplants. On the heart shelf, I deviated from my two-grouping per shelf trend and used three items or groupings. I added a potted prophylactic institute, a gold-framed photograph of my boys, and a grouping of books topped with a white and gilded concrete box. To the bottom shelf, I added a group that includes a round basket tray, a stack of mini art books, and a few air plants, also as a pair of white candle pillars.

Residuum and Design

I tried to rest the visual weight of the Television set with a pair of framed beach photographs by Origin Prints Co. And then, I added a big tray to the top of the table on the right side for storage of a few decorative items.

I wanted the open up shelf styling to look adequately organic, but I used a few tricks to keep information technology looking orderly. The elevation shelves are fairly symmetrical, containing coordinating artwork and potted plants of the same size and color. The bottom two shelves on both sides contain a mixture of artwork (A), books (B), candle pillars (C), plants (P), and a few other decorative items. Repeating these few elements creates just the correct amount of repetition and dissimilarity. I've learned with shelf styling to exist restrained- choose 2-4 colours (I used mostly white and dark-green, with small amounts of blackness, gilt, and tan basket colour), and about v dissimilar "types" of decorative items.

A= Artwork, B=Books, C=Candles, P=Plants

Fireplace

I frequently use a symmetrical display on the fireplace curtain, but this time I decided to utilize an asymmetrical arrangement. I placed clear glass hurricane lanterns on either side of the drapery, then deviated from traditional symmetry. Firstly, I added a sculptural cone, some books, and an air plant to the correct side. Secondly, I added a smaller sculptural cone and a potted constitute to the left side. All of the fireplace decor is white, with the exception of the plant.

Summary

I promise yous accept enjoyed my post, How to decorate a fireplace wall without congenital-ins. This arrangement can work well for many homes and is a low-cost weekend projection that will seriously upgrade your space. The fireplace wall is visible from our kitchen and breakfast area and makes me happy every fourth dimension I expect.