How to Decorate a Chimney Breast Wall
15 Clever Ideas For Chimney Breasts and Alcoves
/ Fifi McGeeIf you're looking for chimney breast ideas and alcove ideas, you've come to the right blog!
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I've worked with many homeowners over the years, supporting them with their interior design. It's the properties with period features like chimney breasts and alcoves that can prove tricky for them to design, but they bring huge potential and shape to a room.
We (Neil and I!) moved in to our 1930s fixer upper in 2016 and we've been renovating it from grantastic to fantastic ever since. What sold the property to us in the first place were the period features, the deep alcoves and wide chimney breasts. They were untouched and primed for us to experiment on with different chimney breast and alcove ideas.
With 4 rooms of this house having chimney breasts, I had lots of opportunity to try different ways of decorating them, so in this post I want to share 10 chimney breast ideas to help get you inspired for ways to decorate yours!
1. Inset your cooker in the kitchen
If the chimney breast you want to decorate is situated in the kitchen like one of ours, a fantastic use of space is to open up a portion of the wall and fit a freestanding or counter-top stove within it. Here we've been able to maximise worktop space elsewhere in the room, and make a real feature of the chimney breast. We bought a Rangemaster Kitchener 90 cooker which is gas on top and electric on the bottom, with two electric ovens it's an incredible machine. The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice a discrete chimney extractor which is the Bosch Serie 4.
Idea with Dark paint for feature wall on chimney breast - IMAGE: @tobyshome
2. Make a picture and storage hallway feature
Renovations and room conversions can often throw up some odd-shaped walls to work with but really they're just design features in the making. This home has used a darker paint colour with coordinating furniture and hung picture frames to create a stunningly styled masterpiece, which all pops effortlessly out of the old chimney breast. It's the perfect wall space to create this kind of contrast and zoned area. After all, one of the joys of owning a period property is learning to work with the quirks of what you've got!
Alcove storage idea in chimney breast - IMAGE: FIFI MCGEE, ARIANA ARMCHAIR MADE.COM £399
3. Fit a wood burning stove
An obvious one but not to be discounted too quickly as it will add value to your property. Fitting a wood burning stove was one of the first jobs we did in our house after removing the chunky 30s fireplace in the living room. Aside from the value it has added, it's cleaner and safer than an open fire, and brings a focal point to work around when decorating the living room.
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4. Experiment with partially exposing the brickwork
You don't need to make huge changes to make an impact. Sometimes, just a clever visual trick is enough to make your chimney breast the star of the show. This home has kept the raw character of bare brickwork for the surround and contrasted it with an earthy green paint shade on the chimney breast itself. This idea balances the rustic practicality of a working wood burner with flawless wall paint and crisp finishing touches.
5. Go bespoke with built in alcove shelves
Another way to add value (and a whole load of character!) to your chimney breast is by getting bespoke shelves built in to your alcoves. We commissioned a local carpenter to design us the ultimate chimney breast storage plan. This isn't a cheap thing to install unless you can DIY, but in our Home Design Lab online course, we show members exactly how to draw their ideas to visualise how shelving might look before investing time and money creating the design. The interior design know-how we share in that program is invaluable if you're keen to get your home design working for you.
Our alcove system perfectly fits our (questionably oversized!) TV, sound bar, logs, kindling, and has plenty of storage for family photos, plants, books and more!
Flexible furniture idea in chimney breast - IMAGE: IDEAL HOME
6. Tighter budget? Try freestanding furniture
If you're adamant you want chimney breast storage but you don't have the budget to get something built bespoke, freestanding furniture can look incredible and provide you with permanent or temporary storage space that's easy to change up or move elsewhere in the room when you fancy a change. Versatility is always a good thing!
7. Double wardrobe it
Decorating a master bedroom? Our free renovation design guide has helped many of our readers nail their layouts (it's free, give it a try), but one of the best layout tips for tricky bedroom alcoves is to have a wardrobe each. One for you, one for the other half. Your chimney breast takes a lot of space in the bedroom it can be tricky to know where to place wardrobes, the bed, chest of drawers and more. Layout can be a headache. That's why built in alcove storage like these double wardrobes either side of the chimney breast are high on our priority list when we come to renovate the final room in our house.
idea for styling a heritage fireplace in Chimney breast - IMAGE: @interiors_at_13
8. Tile and style
Whether it's for budget reasons, due to taste or simply because the fireplace isn't (or can't be) functional, we often find ourselves with the gorgeous aesthetics of a fireplace in a chimney breast and it couldn't be easier to make something of a feature from it. A fresh like of paint to the chimney breast and fireplace surround can be a great budget option and finish it off with some carefully selected tiles to round out the colour scheme and tie in with the rest of the room. And there you have it! Stunning for next to nothing.
9. Use the chimney breast as a feature in your bathroom
We love a seeing clever room conversion and this one keeps the chimney breast structure to create the perfect space for a vanity-style look in the bathroom. Accented with feature tiles, this just goes to show that there's always life in an old chimney breast and this one has been transformed to its full potential.
This layout idea could even work really nicely in another room as a vanity area as the chimney breast frames your mirror perfectly.
Chimney breast idea for storage instead of a woodburner - IMAGE: @renoatthecoast
10. Log it up!
For when you're truly strapped for cash and need a quick, easy way to decorate your chimney breast without a fireplace, there are lots of affordable ideas you can try. The first I'd be thinking about is positioning seasoned logs within the opening of the chimney breast for rustic charm. It instantly makes the room feel cosy, and works in all areas of the house, from the bedroom, dining room to the living room.
11. Incorporate your chimney breast into your bedhead
If ever there was an idea to accent your bedhead, this has to be it. Using a broader chimney breast as the backdrop for your bedhead makes for such a beautiful way to exhibit your bed as something extra special. This home has used panelling and a colour change either side of the picture rail for an easy way to make something that looks expensive. This could be a great weekend DIY project for a bedroom transformation with a simple panel and paint job. We love big impact, small cost weekend reno jobs!
12. Inset your TV into the chimney breast
We're all for making your chimney breast the centre of entertainment. This gorgeous living room combines both a wood burner with space for log storage and also an inset space for the TV. Not only does this look top notch with all wires concealed but it also makes a hub for your living room and you'll get the gorgeous warm light from the fire as you watch your favourite show.
13. Build out into a visual centrepiece
A chimney breast can be so much more than just a simple upright rectangular shape. This York home has made a stunning feature in their living room by expanding the chimney breast to the side into alcoves as well as bring the elevated hearth forwards so the wood burner is more prominent.
This is a smashing example of breaking traditional boundaries and showcasing your chimney breast in all its glory. If a larger scale chimney breast project isn't on the cards then you can emulate this idea with some contrasting paint shades and coordinating alcove decor.
patterned Wallpaper idea on a chimney breast - IMAGE: @s.e.w.athome
14. Wallpaper the chimney
I personally adore this look – when homeowners decide to wallpaper their chimney breast with an incredible pattern instead of paint. If I was handier with the ol' cutting and pasting I'd have done this in our living room, but alas my skills aren't there yet! If you're the same, how about trying your hand at wallpapering a 'less important' chimney breast like the bedroom, where it's not such a big deal if your edges aren't perfect. At least then you won't find yourself staring at your mistakes when you're watching TV in the living room! For more ideas check out our chimney breast wallpaper ideas post.
15. The all-one-colour look
If your chimney breast is in a fairly modest size room, you might worry that adding shelves and reinstating period details like coving and fireplaces will make the space smaller. And that's true to an extent. There's different design ideas you can adopt to combat this though. If you're laying a hearth for example, make sure it doesn't extend too far into the centre of the room, keep it narrow, so you have more walking space. Also consider painting your walls, shelves and skirting all one colour to give the illusion of one large space.
I hope this has given you lots of ideas for decorating your chimney breast!
Which one has caught your eye? Do you have other ideas you've put into play in your home? From the big transformations to the small weekend facelifts, we hope we've inspired you to make the most of your chimney breast, no matter which room it's in.
Join my free 4 day email masterclass and learn:
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How to nail your layouts
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The secret to a cohesive home (it's so easy your jaw will drop)
-
How to visualise your decisions + prevent costly mistakes [video class]
-
How to find your home style + not get divorced in the process 😉
There are so many posts on my blog, as well as resources in my shop to help you during this exciting time decorating a house, so please do have a look around :)
Thanks for reading!
Fifi xoxo
How to Decorate a Chimney Breast Wall
Source: https://fifimcgee.co.uk/blog/10-chimney-breast-ideas-from-storage-to-paint