Dear Danica, Why Does My Fireplace Feel Out Of Place & How Can I Make It Stand Out Less?

Hi Ali! 👋

First of all, your living room is so cute! Your color palette of navy, brown, and hunter green is right up my alley.

So you feel like your fireplace is out of place but you want to work with it and make it blend in with the room a little better. I’d love to share some ideas on how to accomplish this without losing the focal point entirely –

First of all, is it the color of the stone, the size of the stones, and/or the sharp edges that are bothering you? If so, I’d consider over-grouting or applying a slurry coat on the stone to soften the look. Check out this roundup of examples!

This will do a few things for the fireplace.

• Over-grouting will create a less busy look overall. Currently there’s a lot of small stones that are making it busy…and therefore it stands out. When you over-grout or apply a slurry coat, you can create the illusion of fewer stones.

• The sharpness of the stone edges may also be drawing attention and a slurry coat or over-grouting will soften them. Depending on how much grout or mortar you add, you can really soften the overall look but still maintain tons of texture!

• And of course, a slurry coat or over-grouting softens the color of the stone. Currently your wall color and furniture have warm undertones while your fireplace stones have a cool undertone. This may also be the reason it feels out of place to you. You can pick a mortar color with warmer undertones to coordinate with your wall color and by covering a good chunk of the stones, or all of it, (you can decide how much gray stone you want showing through) this will drastically help reduce the undertone difference between the walls and the stone.

Now for the built ins, you can absolutely paint them and I like the color swatch you picked! My one recommendation would be to only paint the built ins and not the walls above too. My reason for this is because I’m not a big fan of accent walls. You already have a focal point with the fireplace so you don’t need an accent color too.

Let’s see, is there anything else I’d do?

The color of your curtains have a cool undertone while the rest of your room has a warm undertone. If you have the budget, I’d look for curtains that lean beige vs gray. (Linked an option below) And while you’re at it, double up your curtain panels for an even fuller look. Aim for 70”-100” wide. This instantly elevates the room.

And while I like your coffee table, it reads too small for the room. I’d look for something that fills the middle space more and center it in front of the fireplace. That way you don’t need to scoot the coffee table closer to one side so you can prop your feet up. You could get away with any shape coffee table – oval, circle, rectangle, or square! Just as long as it’s bigger!

You’re killing it though! Looooove that navy sofa. The lamp & pleated shade on the cabinet is so charming. The furniture layout is spot on. And the size of your rug is perfect! Job well done!