How to add character to your home with a fireplace

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies have had to switch to remote working, in order to keep employees safe. Many businesses have had to adapt to a home-working model rapidly, but will remote working become part of the new normal?

A hearth has been the heart of the home since time began, from the fire pits of medieval huts to the grand, ornate fireplaces of Georgian homes. Once a necessary essential for cooking, keeping warm and surviving, a fireplace has since become something of a luxury extra.

Even when Regency architects were creating huge, ostentatious fireplaces in sumptuous Palladian palaces they were making a design statement. While ordinary people had to make do with rustic brick fireplaces and inglenook designs, these centrepieces acted as status symbols – showing off a homeowner’s wealth, intellect and wanderlust. It’s no different today really – a fireplace can set the tone for a space, whether a monolithic white block, discreet aperture or understated wood burner. They suggest how you might act and live in the space; if it’s a warm and cosy home or a cool and minimally clean home.

A fireplace can make or break a space. A home might start to feeling lacking without a fireplace at its very heart. Even if you don’t need one for the warmth, a home can easily start to feel soulless and lost without one. There’s something in our nature as humans that encourages us to gather around a central focal point. In some homes, this might be the kitchen island or the sofa, but for most homes, a fireplace can add much-needed character and purpose.

large_first

When curating a home, you want to remember all the senses, not just sight. Texture is important to help create a tactile, soothing environment you want to spend time in. Soften those clean architectural lines with natural materials that you can’t help but touch. When you’re surrounded by smooth, perfect surfaces, it helps to break it up with some subtle imperfections. This might be the rich grain on a wooden dining table, a leather armchair that beautifully patinates with time, or naturally creased linen that gives a relaxed, effortless appeal. Don’t forget scent as well – certain fragrances can help evoke happy memories or transport us to favourite places.

Full renovation of a family home, exploring the connection between living spaces

The Scenario House, Stoke Newington during NLA Open house event

A fireplace can create definition in an open plan layout

Here’s how:

If you’re considering a residential architectural project in Hertfordshire, we’re here to help, whether it’s a renovation, extension or new-build.

We've created a brief illustrated overview to help you understand each stage of the process, whether you’re planning a home extension, renovation or new-build in Hertfordshire. Most architecture projects in Hertfordshire require planning permission from the relevant district council within Hertfordshire. With our successful record securing planning permission on behalf of our clients, we can claim home advantage across Hertfordshire and neighbouring Buckinghamshire.

An open-plan space can easily feel vast and overwhelming. Such a space needs to be clearly zoned so you can start to create some clear definition and pockets of interest. A fireplace can help bring that human element to a big, generous, open plan space. In our Scenario House project, a long, concrete fireplace helps connect the main floor of the home with the new lower ground floor, creating a cosy relaxing zone in what could have been a lost, in-between space, sandwiched between the living room and kitchen. In Victorian homes, the middle room between the front and back of the house can easily become a dumping ground or thoroughfare, but a fireplace can add a cosy counterpoint and reason for stopping in the space.

Focal Shift fire place, first project as local architects in Hackney E9

The Scenario house, Hackney during NLA Open house event

Tip

A fireplace can unite spaces and connect different areas of the home

If you’re considering a residential architectural project in Hertfordshire, we’re here to help, whether it’s a renovation, extension or new-build.

We've created a brief illustrated overview to help you understand each stage of the process, whether you’re planning a home extension, renovation or new-build in Hertfordshire. Most architecture projects in Hertfordshire require planning permission from the relevant district council within Hertfordshire. With our successful record securing planning permission on behalf of our clients, we can claim home advantage across Hertfordshire and neighbouring Buckinghamshire.

A fireplace can be used in place of a plain wall or partition between two spaces, giving each space a shared focal point. The two spaces feel connected by a common element, but each retain an element of privacy and intimacy that can sometimes be lost in open-plan spaces. You get the best of both worlds in each space. In our Minimal Living project, a contemporary, built-in wood burner provides a window between the kitchen and living room. Views and light can still pass through the two spaces, but there’s a clear separation between different uses; eating and entertaining, and relaxing and unwinding.

Tip

A fireplace can create a focal point in a space lacking in original features

Period homes have an abundance of character at their disposal, from original fireplaces and bay windows to ornate cornicing and exposed wood floors. In a new build, you have to work a little harder to give a space the same character and sense of cosiness. The straight lines and plain walls of a new build lend themselves to a unique architectural intervention; a feature that will become a focal point around which the rest of the space ties together. A fireplace can help add an element of detail for the eye to focus on and a sense of warmth to the clean, pared-back, contemporary surroundings.

A fireplace can add height to a space

Having a strong vertical element in a space can help draw your eye up and emphasise the ceiling height, giving a feeling of generosity and openness. In a lofty, double height space, for example, the long flue of a hanging fireplace might add a strong statement, while cladding the full height of the chimney breast in a contrasting material might add texture and tactility to a plain space.

A fireplace can shift the focus in a room and direct views

A fireplace can also direct views in a space and suggest how a space might be used. This project, titled Focal Shift, used a sculptural plasterwork chimney breast to subtly shift the focus of the room towards a snug area and the bay window of this period property. The opening of the chimney breast twists towards the seating area and away from an area for eating and entertaining, so creating a visual delineation between the spaces and functions.

About the Author: Cate St Hill