Original hearth tiles (with pic)

[TattiePants]

I’m in the process of redecorating my bedroom and wondering what to do with the original hearth tiles. They’re a bluey/grey so don’t really go with teal but I hate removing original features. Do I leave them, paint them white (they were painted when I bought the house) or replace them. If I replace them, then what with?

A solution could be to create a faux hearth by tiling and grouting tiles of your choice on to a board cut to size, that lies on top?

That way, you're preserving the original tiles and finding something to suit your scheme? Think this would only be an option though if your fire is purely decorative?

I hadn’t thought of that. It might work but a board plus tile will probably raise it higher than the carpet.

I love you wall colour!

I quite like them. They are understated.

Thanks @Addler it’s Little Greenes Mid Azure Green. It was scarily dark when it first went on but I love it now - even though the wardrobes will need another 2 coats....

@TinklyLittleLaugh there’s nothing we can do with them at the minute so they might grow on me. They took many hours to strip the gloss paint off so it does pain me to remove or repaint them!

They are Lovely. Leave well alone.

I would leave them

DH is pleased the consensus is to leave them as he’d be the one cutting new tiles!

Lovely, leave them. Love the fireplace.

I really like them. Could you put one or two vases on the heath (I'm thinking maybe a dark red), to tie into your teal and distract away from the blue colour?

Could you put a small rug over them?

Leave them or do what MissLemon suggested. Definitely don't remove them.

I like them too. I would leave them as they are.

Contrary to popular opinion I don't think they work either, sorry OP. They're too neat somehow, it doesn't work with the panelling. Personally I'd go for a single piece of dark slate. But I'd also paint the inside of the fireplace itself black or paint the whole thing dark.

I think they work well.

What’s the era of the house? If Victorian/Edwardian they are unlikely to be original, they look pretty modern to me

We'd be taking up the carpet and lighting the fire. What a glorious fireplace!

Leave them be.

I think the colour of them goes with the green, and they're very simple in design, so whilst the carpet/wall/tile isn't a perfect colour combination (imo), it's not noticeable, iykwim.

So I would leave them as they are.

I’m with Wavey123, that fireplace looks Victorian or Edwardian, going by it’s size, and the tiles look more 1950s. I too would get rid and put in plain slate.

The fireplace, including the surround and tiles look late 1920s or early 1930s to me. We've lived in a house with very similar and they were original - neighbouring houses had them too. The fire surround could well be oak which has been painted.

I’m pretty sure the tiles are original as a neighbour has a very similar tiled fireplace. The house was built in 1922 and 5 of the fireplaces have a similar surround with all bar one painted white. Unfortunately the other bedrooms had the fires removed before we moved in and as they are the DC’s rooms, we’ve never got round to replacing them. Downstairs all the fireplaces had living flames fires installed before we moved in which we’ve kept but it’s years since we last lit a fire. Downstairs the hearths are black which work with the black cast iron fires but I don’t think that would work in the bedroom.

Still undecided on what to do but we’ve made a complete mess of the freshly decorated wall today while fitting wall lights so next job is to get the paint brushes back out.....