1930s fireplace - inspiration needed

[theAntsareMyFriends]

We've just moved into a 1930s house which still has the original fireplace. To be honest its not exactly beautiful and not something I would have put in but its there and its already growing on me. Its quite plain and tiled with slightly pinkish tinged fawn tiles with a darker border.

I feel that the fireplace is part of the house and that we should find a way to make it work as it is. I'm thinking of painting the walls a dull olive green colour to tone down the pinkness and bring out the brown. Any ideas if this will work?

However my DP hates it and wants to remove it. He also really wants a wood burning stove and doesn't know if one will go in a 1930s fireplace.

So he's set me a challenge to come up with some pictures of 1930s fireplaces in a nicely decorated room that look stylish and possibly a picture of one with a wood burning stove. I've tried googling but no luck so was hoping that someone might be able to point me in the direction of some design pics.

Hopefully with your help I will be able to save the fireplace!

Thanks in advance

[theAntsareMyFriends]

the colours are similar to this but the design is different

link

[LadyKooKoo]

Go on pinterest.

[BornOfFrustration]

I can show you our stove in a 1930's semi back room if when I work out how to do it, will be tomorrow though. Not got any original fireplaces here, it was all 1970's gas fires when we moved in.

[ThePerfectNegroni]

Is it the whole tiles look he dislikes or the colours? You could look at other colours like these www.c20fireplaces.co.uk/rfpc

[Thumbwitch]

G'wan, take a photo and post it here! I have to admit I'm not keen on the art deco tiled style myself, I prefer the earlier art nouveau styles.

This page from Rightmove has some pics of woodburners in more traditional fire surrounds, but no art deco tiles, sorry.

[Thumbwitch]

Thinking about it, I don't think you'll be able to keep the original fire surround as it is, if it's a similar size to the one you've linked to, because you need more space around it for a woodburner. You could put in an electric flame-effect fire if you don't want to keep the open fire though.

[LtEveDallas]

We bought a house with a 1950s fireplace (similar to your link) but had to take it out to fit a log burner. There isn't enough space to put even the smallest one in, and the smallest one would not have been powerful enough. We did think about keeping it and taking it back to a coal fire, but I think unless the rest of the house has similar features that you intend to keep then it would look out of place. So ours is now sitting in a pile of rubble outside the house.

We've not done that well with replacement though. I had this picture in my head of a distressed brick fireplace wall with a large railway sleeper mantle and woodburner underneath - but sadly the bricks under the plaster were engineered to the nth degree so look terrible. It would cost too much to sort it out like my vision and we are already haemorrhaging cash hand over fist so the plaster is going back on

[Chimchar]

We have a 1930's fireplace not at all dissimilar to the pic you posted. We also have a wood burner fitted in it.

Have to go to work now, but will try and post a pic later on.

It's not ideal, and we are going to have to remove a bit of the fire surround to let the air circulate a bit better, but it is doable.

Our other room was without a fireplace and so we opened up that space and I love it. We have a bigger burner in there, that is too hot most of the time, but looks ace! Again, will do pics after.

[Longleggedlovely]

We had two 1930s fireplaces in our detached house. One in a bedroom which had really revolting tiles which we got rid of totally, sealed up and plastered over as we decided we would never have a fire in there and it was draughty. In our living room we tried to preserve the surround but as others have said above the space was too narrow so we had to take it all out and some but I love love love our cosy log burner and it's much more attractive and efficient!

[MrsMummyBx]

Hi OP
I came across this thread as I'm having the same dilemma. I have a pinkish tiled surround that I don't really like but feel it's part of the house- I'm not sure whether to remove and add a log burner or whether to embrace it and decorate the room in complimentary colours- any ideas?