Inglenook fireplace

[mama202]

We have a large inglenook fireplace in our lounge which is lovely but it dominates the room and makes it look a bit medieval. Any ideas for updating?

Can you send a photo? We have a large oak panelled inglenook but the rest of the room is decorated in very light colours to compensate

We have a very large inglenook. We had the beams and fire place sand blasted back to the original pale oak and brick. I also have the tv in there and it’s on a wall bracket that swings out to view, or pushes back flush to the side wall so it’s hidden, however it is a large inglenook, about ten foot tall and fifteen wide.

We also put a wood burner in. The whole thing is lovely and a real feature of the room.

So for me, lightening it was the trick. Can you post a pic?

Here's a photo. I was thinking to replace the brown floor tiles with something light and patterned maybe, replace the fire with a cream log burner and lighten the dark beam on the front. We are also going to lighten the rest of the room and modernise but just a bit stumped. Would love to see any photos of your renovations

Just to add the photo is from when we first bought the house. We have since removed all the trinkets and dark furniture etc and the plan is to paint the beams white which is what we done in other rooms and it's worked well. We did look into ice blasting but it was ridiculously expensive and I want to do away with the cottagey feel to be honest and go for a more classic/ modern feel

I think it looks lovely OP although it is hard to make out the brown tiles in the photo. In order to modernise I would consider stripping or whitewashing the black ceiling beams and possibly having a different floor covering, maybe natural coir or wooden boards instead of carpet. A less heavy coffee table would also help. If you are going for a log burner the large double size ones with two doors that open are great at giving an open fire feel.

We have a similar fireplace. Our beams were stained dark too and we got someone in to sandblast them (be warned, you will have to redecorate the whole room afterwards). I'd change the fireplace for a log burner and get rid of the ugly chimney. I really wouldn't paint the bricks! They might look 'modern' temporarily but as everyone's going mad painting bricks atm it would look even more dated soon and will probably look very tacky (esp painting the beams).

I agree re painting the brick, our decorator suggested this but I think it just looks like you're trying to cover them up, especially as it's so large it just wouldn't look right. A few people have suggested plastering the front but I'm not sure about this either. The big dark chimney hood definitely has to go, it's so dark and drab! I think the carpet will be staying but I wanted to get a nice rug

This is a board an interior designer pulled together for me. I definitely think elements of it could work, especially the tiles and the different textures through the fabrics

I’d also get those beams and all the brick work sand blasted, but you don’t need to redecorate the whole room after wards, or we didn’t. You will need to patch up the paint work that borders where it was sand blasted. Just at the edges.

I’d also put a wood burner in but do not put a cream one in, trust me, it will be cream for five mins flat. You’ll regret it.

I’d also sandblast all the ceiling beams back. I’d not paint them, it will look shit. Take it back to the original pale wood.

This is our beams after sand blasting. They were nearly bLack before, they are about four hundred years old. It simply lightens the whole room.

They look great, so much nicer then the dark. Do you mind me asking if it was expensive? The quote we got was just ridiculous so I didn't give it much more thought

I guess it is subjective on if it was expensive or not, but I had the whole downstairs done, so inglnook, hall kitchen, doors, living room beams,etc they are big rooms and a lot of wood, and I think it was about eleven hundred pounds,

It is a filthy job and I think if your floor is carpeted you’d need to replace it after, I’m not sure, our floor is exposed floor boards, they will cover it, but there is a shit ton of sand used,

Honestly it’s worth it though, it’s a much more modern warmer cleaner feel to it and the rooms are much less oppressive in feeling, very bright and warm.

We were quoted £1000 a day so that definitely sounds reasonable! What kind of style did you go for with the decoration once you'd had them done?

The ceilings are actually the white colour they were before, I never repainted them, I just touched up the edges, the walls are a hard colour to describe as its a mixed dulux one, but it’s like a very very pale sage green, it matches the back ground on a Sanderson wall paper I have on one wall.

The hallway is the same, but I’ve had it mid grey, and it also worked well. The kitchen is yellows and greens. The loo is a pale green duck egg.

It’s pale wood so pretty much anything goes really.☺️

I’m not sure where the fashion came from to stain everything dark, but it’s really oppressive.

A thousand a day is shocking. My guys were here about four days. I’d shop around for quotes.