After a long day, there’s nothing better than putting your feet up and relaxing in your own cosy home. Lots of different elements go into creating a cosy living space. A welcoming scent, a variety of textures, live plants and flowers, and artwork and mirrors all create a cosy living space, but the biggest element has to be the fireplace.
The fireplace is often the main feature of a room, creating a cosy atmosphere all-year round, but especially in the colder months. To help you to design a cosy living space in your home, we’ve put together a guide explaining the importance of the fireplace, how to arrange your furniture to compliment the fireplace, what colour schemes will work, what lighting will enhance the fireplace, and which accessories and décor you should use.
The Importance of the Fireplace
People in Britain love their fireplaces, especially during the colder times of the year. Fireplaces are not just functional, providing the heat we need to keep us warm, they’re also wonderful for our senses. The glowing light, the smoky smell of a real fire, the sound of logs cracking and the heat from the fire warming our skin, all make us feel happy and relaxed.
A fireplace isn’t just a cost-effective way to heat your cosy living space, it is also the focal point of the room. The style of the fireplace dictates the overall interior design of your room. The fireplace adds the wow factor to the room, it is the main thing visitors will remember about how the room looks and when it comes to designing the room, it is the first thing you should think about, the rest of the design will work with it.
Furniture Arrangement
When it comes to arranging your furniture to compliment your fireplace, it is important to balance aesthetics with functionality. To do this you need to assess the space you have and what furniture you need (and want) to include.
Decide what you want the focal point of the room to be, furniture should be positioned around and often pointing at, the focal point, which in this case is the fireplace. Then consider what feel you hope to achieve to determine how you position your furniture. If you want a cosy and warm feel, you should place your furniture facing the fireplace, for more flow to the room, you could angle your furniture towards the fireplace, and for maximum space and conversation area, the furniture should be in parallel to the fireplace. Here, you should also think about the natural pathway you take to move from the room to other rooms, so you can make sure this is left clear.
You also need to make sure you choose the right size furniture, although a larger sofa might be more comfortable, it might not be functional to have one if that means you can’t navigate the room easily. The first furniture you should put into position is the larger furniture, when you do this make sure you leave enough space between the furniture to move around the room.
Colour Schemes
You don’t have to be an interior designer to know that the colour scheme you choose sets the tone for the room. Room colour psychology is something we all experience on a daily basis, where the colour scheme of a room (often subconsciously) affects both your mood and your energy. For example:
- Warmer colours: creates a feeling of cosiness, love, kindness and happiness. They can evoke passion, excitement, creativity and even promote activity. Warmer tones include: red, orange, yellow, and pink.
- Cooler colours: has a calming and soothing effect, they relieve stress and can create a tone of sophistication. Cooler colours include: green, blue and purple.
- Neutral colours: add warmth and a sense of tradition to a room, they are timeless and versatile, and can also inject elegance into the room. Neutral tones include: brown, grey, black, white and metallic colours.
Colour is also a fantastic way to express your personality, so you may already have some ideas on what colours you would like to use. Before you make a decision, here are some of the colours that work best with the warm tones of a fireplace to create the perception of cosiness: red, orange, yellow, pink, brown and metallic hues, such as gold.
Lighting
When it comes to enhancing your fireplace, you’ll want to create a cosy atmosphere using ambient lighting. There are a few ways you can do this:
- Use warm bulbs: warm bulbs cast a comforting glow that creates a cosy feel in the room, even when the fire is not in use.
- Add ceiling fixtures that cast a light onto the fireplace, dangling fixtures and modern chandeliers to draw the eyes down the feature of the fireplace.
- Wall lights above the chimney breast: additional wall lighting on the chimney breast, above the fire, creates a depth in lighting and a cosy warmth to the room.
- Lights inside inglenooks: warm spotlights and LED strips can look amazing and cosy inside an inglenook.
- Natural lighting: use any natural lighting available to you. If you are building a new fireplace, you could consider doing it in front of (or next to) a window. Alternatively, you can add mirrors above the fireplace to bounce the natural light from the windows, around the room.
- Use different lighting levels: using intense lighting, mid lighting and low lighting around the fireplace is a great way to adapt the ambience of the lighting.
Accessories and Decor
One of the best ways to make your fireplace extra cosy is to add accessories and décor that enhances the aesthetics of the fireplace. Here, you have lots of options:
- Fireplace décor: some items of décor are specifically designed for the fireplace, although most of use (unless you have a real coal or wood burning fire) won’t need to use them. These include: fireplace tool sets, log carriers and holders, fireplace grates, and ash buckets and shovels.
- Cosy accessories: including things like cushions, throws and rugs that add luxury and a cosiness to the room that compliments the fireplace.
- Seasonal décor: we can use seasonal décor to bring a sense of cosiness into the room. Stockings and garlands can be hung at Christmas, spiderwebs and jack-a-lanterns can be added at Halloween, candlesticks could be added for dinner parties or special occasions.
Fire Safety Considerations
Most people will want to decorate around their fireplace, if not to make the room look cozier, then to inject a sense of personality and uniqueness to the fireplace. But when you decorate and place furniture around your fireplace, you need to do it safely. A beautiful looking fireplace won’t remain beautiful if it sets the whole room up in flames.
Here are some safety considerations to keep in mind:
- Use the three-foot rule. Keep a 3-foot space around fireplaces, to prevent any fires breaking out. This includes rugs, furniture, throws, blankets and pillows, and at Christmas, stockings and even the Christmas tree (Stockings should never be hung above a lit fire).
- Keep a fire extinguisher close by.
- Buy a fire safety gate to prevent animals and children getting too close to the fire.
- Be careful what you burn, wood and is okay, but things like wrapping paper which creates hot embers as it burns, should never be placed on an open fire.
- Make sure your fire is regularly cleaned and maintained by a professional.
Conclusion
The fireplace can be one of the most unique and memorable focal points of your room, it is also a big investment that will last for years to come, so spending the time to create the perfect fireplace and décor to compliment that fireplace, is incredibly important. If you do it right, the fireplace will not only be a wonderful piece of décor, but it will also bring warmth, ambience, love and a cosiness into your home that you and your family can relax and enjoy for years to come. Our friendly team have years of experience creating the perfect fireplace, if you have any questions or you need help, call our helpful team.
At Superior Fireplaces we have a diverse range of fireplaces, in a selection of different styles and colours. Take a look at our extensive online catalogue of fireplaces and accessories to find something that is perfect for your home, your design preferences and for your personality. Let us help you to create the cosy living space of your dreams.