5 Reasons to Love a Dark Grey or Black Fireplace + 10 Dark Fireplaces to Love

When we first stepped foot in the lakehouse, I spotted the wall to wall fireplace and immediately pictured painting out the pine wood paneling and discolored concrete "stone" a deep, charcoal grey.  I wanted a modern, dark grey fireplace to help balance all of the creamy whites and bold shades of aqua I was dreaming about.

Nearly three years later, Hubby and I both love our DIY charcoal grey painted fireplace!  Over the years, dozens of readers have written to me to say they were inspired by our fireplace and painted theirs a striking shade of grey too (varying from light grey to a near-black, like ours).  Sometimes it's so helpful to see someone else try something before taking the plunge and I'm happy to be a guinea pig!  I was certainly inspired by other dark grey fireplaces I saw online and it gave me the confidence to give it a try.  Stories like these remind me why I started blogging in the first place: to connect with other DIY-driven folks with small budgets but big ideas!

Pros and Cons of a Dark Grey Fireplace:

A dark fireplace, however, is not for everyone.  Although some folks have seen our fireplace, grabbed a paint brush and busted out a makeover in a weekend, others have sent me photos of their "before," asking for my input and whether I think a dark grey fireplace will work with their decor.  At the end of the day, I think the most important question to ask is, "do you love it?".  In the case of my fireplace makeover, it's just paint - as long as you're committed to painting it (because stripping paint is miserable work), trying a different, lighter color will only take a little patience and a gallon of paint.  So the best advice I can give is, "try it, you might like it!".
 
Because that's a little wish-washy, I also make an effort to explain why I think the dark fireplace works for us:  we have tall ceilings, an open concept lay out, and lots of natural light in the living room, which keeps the dark grey from making the room feel small or dark.  In a smaller room, a dark fireplace might be overwhelming - but it could also help create a feeling of coziness when paired with the right decor:

Vogue Living

It really boils down to the look you're trying to create.

Another reason I love our dark grey fireplace is that the dark grey is picked up elsewhere in the house (like the floor tile in our new bathroom), so it feels cohesive as you move from room to room.  In fact, I'm planning on adding this same hue to the kitchen (any guesses where???).  Painting the fireplace dark grey was also a great way to determine if we like the look of a dark grey fireplace, before dropping thousands of dollars on something like slate. 

We're definitely sold on a dark grey fireplace - there are plenty of reasons to love it!

5 Reasons to Love a Dark Grey Fireplace:

1.  A Dark Dark Fireplace Grey Hides Soot and Ash:
One of the many perks of a dark grey fireplace is that the color hides dust and ash, which showed on the natural concrete of our old fireplace.  If we hadn't spotted that staining, I might have been tempted to paint the brick teal (because teal) or maybe white to match the walls (like this stunner - a white fireplace really does look very crisp and airy).

My Domaine

But knowing our fireplace had the tendency to get a bit smokey was good information and our color of choice disguises this flaw perfectly!  

2.  A Charcoal Grey Fireplace Suits Any Style:
The interesting thing about peeking into so many readers' homes is that I've noticed how versatile charcoal grey is!  A charcoal grey fireplace looks equally at home in a modern space as it does a more traditional room.  No matter your style or taste, you can make a dark grey - or even black - fireplace work!

Apartment Therapy

via My Domaine

via My Domaine

bod'or

3.  A Painted Grey or Black Fireplace Adds Drama to a Room:
Having never before tried a bold accent wall, I grew unexpectedly attached to the statement our dark grey fireplace makes.  I love that it became the focal point of our living room and I'm definitely considering dark grey stone for our eventual fireplace renovation to keep the bold look. 

4.  A Dark Grey Fireplace is a Great Backdrop
I love a white wall (obviously) because it provides such a crisp backdrop for furnishings and artwork, but there's something to be said for a dark fireplace (and dark accent walls) because they really make colors POP.  Even whites seem whiter and earth tones seems earthier against a rich, dark background.  And look at how vivid turquoise looks!

Emily Henderson

Emily Henderson

Apartment Therapy

As an added bonus, dark fireplaces help disguise televisions.  In our new living room arrangement, the corner TV is less prominent thanks to our charcoal grey fireplace and, in rooms where the TV is mounted above the fireplace, a black screen really blends in with a nearly-black fireplace.



5.  A Dark Grey Fireplace is Timeless
I'm not one to throw the "oh, this is a classic" line around because I think that's what everyone was saying about the forest green bathtubs you could buy in the 1980s - no one dreamed that one day, a new generation of design-savvy home owners would take a sledge hammer to so many design elements deemed "classic" back then.  I once chatted with an antiques dealer who told me that in the 1980s, he had to throw away a lot of the 1950s/1960s furniture we clamor for today because no one would buy it - it was just too "dated."  Now we call mid-century modern design timeless, but at one point you couldn't give it away, for love nor money.  

Some things, however, do stand the test of time and I think a dark grey or black fireplace is one of those things because it's so versatile and works with so many design styles. 

The Brick House

Home Adore

Jessica Helgerson Interior Design

Have you painted your fireplace a rich grey or tackled a more expensive dark and moody fireplace renovation?  If you have - or you see any gorgeous dark grey or black fireplaces - tag me on Instagram because I'd love to see!

Capitalizing on the Lake View in the Living Room

I have news that I couldn't wait to share with you, but first - a warning:  I'm about to make the lakehouse living room a little less attractive, in the name of actually living in it more enjoyably.

Hubby and I have always tried to find that perfect balance (for us) between form and function when it comes to decorating our home.  We've picked a cushy sofa over a better looking, firmer model (is it just me, or do some of the best looking sofas look hard as rocks?).  We've found ourselves eschewing the modern dining chairs I love, in favor of something incredibly derriere-friendly.  Even our most polarizing choice - open shelving in the kitchen - was made in pursuit of eking out more storage.  Of course, "function" is highly subjective and what feels practical for one family might be an absolute nightmare for another (I always wonder about the inconvenient television placement in design magazines: the homes where no chair in any room actually faces the TV)!

Hubby and I spend a lot of time thinking about how we live in our spaces and what we want from our home.  This slows down our decorating process a lot but we really want to maximize every space.  This small house stumps us sometimes because every room needs to work double or triple duty.

But we have finally committed to some big changes in the living room and they're directed by our new life by the lake.

When we bought the lakehouse, I immediately envisioned the fireplace painted charcoal grey (check!) with the television mounted above it and a mid-century modern sectional facing the new TV/fireplace and the lake.  I wanted to be able to see the fireplace during our TV binge watching sessions (read: winter hibernation), but also be able to sit, chill and just look at the lake.  I pictured us reading and sipping tea, watching the otters skitter across the ice in the winter and using the binoculars to people bird watch in the summer.  I'm making us sound like the laziest people on the planet, but I'm not shamed of loving downtime.  There's something about living lakeside that makes people really chill...

Despite this vision for our new lake life, after the house became ours we moved in all of our old furniture from the townhouse - our secondhand sofa, our splitting at the seams tufted ottoman, our beloved Ikea Besta wall unit, plus my pretties: the minty chair and velvet chair I had recovered - and faced all of the furniture away from the lake, toward the television.  With these pieces, we also moved a mid-century modern sectional I bought (fourth photo down in this post) on impulse the day before we moved.  Although I love it and it fit the plan, we hesitated getting it recovered and so it's been languishing in the garage.  Although Hubby initially like it, he longed for something a little more cushy.

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How to Clean Glass Fireplace Doors - Easily!

Handy Hubby and I consider ourselves pretty lucky because both of the homes we've purchased have had wood burning fireplaces.  Hubby grew up in a cozy country home with a wood stove, while I grew up with a Mom who pined for a fireplace my entire life; we both had it hammered into our heads that a house is homier with a fireplace.

In the townhouse, the fireplace boasted an illegal insert (thanks, home inspector who "specializes in fireplaces") so we were forced to remove it and use it as a masonry fireplace.  When it was in use, the glass doors were open.  In the lakehouse we once again have a fireplace insert, which operates with the doors closed.  The noisiest fans in the world help push the warm air into the room, although even without them it gets so toasty that the furnace shuts off.

It's much more efficient than the townhouse fireplace, but the downside is that the soot bakes onto the glass.  Cleaning the glass fireplace doors is a regular chore in the winter, but luckily I've picked up a trick to quickly and painlessly remove that baked on soot from the glass!

When we first moved here, I scrubbed the glass with Windex and a chore boy scrubbing cloth (love those things).  I'd have to let the Windex sit for awhile, trying to keep it from dripping everywhere, and then get the best core work out of my life, scrubbing.  (Cleaning this fireplace is clearing vexing, remember the shop vac mishap?)  One day we were at my father-in-law's place and he started cleaning the glass on his fancy new wood stove (so jealous).  He whipped out a can of Bon Ami foam glass cleaner and it cleaned the glass in seconds - NO scrubbing!  I immediately bought a can and tried it myself.  I just sprayed it on, let it sit a minute, and wiped it off with a paper towel.

Blech.  But look, it's like magic!

It was SO much easier to clean the glass fireplace doors this way.  I think either my Mom or Mummu used Bon Ami, because I have memories of cleaning glass with it as a kid, so I eschewed it when shopping for glass cleaner as an adult (weird, the things that motivate my consumer habits).  Well, I'm back in the Bon Ami Bandwagon, because look at my glass fireplace doors now!

In case anyone has struggled to clean their glass fireplace doors, I wanted to share this as a PSA.  I like a clean home, but I want cleaning to be easy, so from time to time I share products that really knock my socks off (like that citru-shine stuff I'm still smitten with).

Looking for more cleaning tips? 

Here's my tip for how to make chrome and stainless look (and stay looking!) brand new and gleaming.

This is how I clean lampshades without a vacuum (it takes two seconds).

My post on how to clean black marks from Pyrex - and bring back shine to Pyrex that's dishwasher dead - has been viewed 75,000 times!  In that post I've also got a tip for removing utensils marks from bowls and plates in seconds - I made a cereal bowl set look brand spanking new!

I did a follow up post about how to remove that really grimey, baked on grease from glass and Pyrex - you'll never guess what product under your sink did the trick!

And, if you're updating a space, find out how I turned worn our lacquered brass into bright, brushed gold with one magical ingredient and two easy step!

Last but not least, here's how I wash ( and de-pill) dry clean only cashmere and wool at home - great for laundering delicate vintage woolens and even pretty wool rugs from the thrift store (because who wants to spend $30 dry cleaning  a $3 find?).

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Modern Fireplace Tool Set

When we first moved into the lakehouse, we couldn't find a spot for the fireplace tool set my grandfather welded so we spray painted the set left with the house and used that instead.  It turned out really well and looked so cute, but the handles were uncomfortably short, so our relaxing fireside evenings were punctuated with a lot of swearing as we singed our arm hairs trying to stoke the fire.

I love being thrifty - I relish the opportunity to make use of what I have and I love a good hand-me-down, but sometimes I just want something new.  We decided to look for a new set and started our search at Canadian Tire, because that's where we found the chic fireplace doors we purchased for the townhouse.  Sure enough, we quickly found a perfect, modern fireplace tool set:

It's the Preston Fireplace Tool Set, which also has a matching log holder.  The vintage iron finish almost disappears against the charcoal painted fireplace - which is exactly what I wanted.  The best part is that the handles are really long, plus there's a handy log grabber, which our last two sets didn't have.

You probably didn't notice a new fireplace tool set perched on the hearth in my tutorial for the bleached and dyed bottle brush trees (compare the photos above and below), but it's one of those little upgrades that just makes me smile every day!  I'm planning on hibernating for the winter soon so I'll be logging a lot of hours fireside, which I'll enjoy even more now that it looks a bit more sophisticated.

Disclosure: This post is a collaboration with my friends at Canadian Tire.  I was not prompted or encouraged to provide a positive review. 

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DIY Dyed Bottle Brush Trees + Styling a Narrow Mantle

In addition to contributing some holiday DIY projects (like my agate wreath), I also styled my mantle for Hello Holiday.  My mantle is super narrow and has two unsightly vents that impede any efforts to make it look good, which is why I normally "style" it with a collection of rocks and call it a day!  But I was up for the challenge of styling a narrow mantle because I knew this would be a perfect excuse to go crazy with DIY dyed bottle brush trees, which are small enough to spruce up (see what I did there?) even the skimpiest mantle.

I bleached and dyed most of the bottle brush trees various shades of mint and teal, but I left a few of the trees green.  I clipped some real evergreen branches and arranged them in my huge West German pottery floor vase. 

The DIY dyed bottle brush trees turned out so well and the project was so simple!

Supplies:

• Lemax Pine trees (I used two packages of 21)*
• Bleach (I used a low splash variety from Target)
• Rit Dye (I used teal and aquamarine, and mixed them)
• Rubber gloves (I only wish mine were this pretty)
• Bucket
• Old towel 
• Stiff bristle brush 

How to bleach + dye bottle brush trees

*I ordered the plain bottle brush trees but was accidentally mailed the snow-covered ones, with no time to return them.  The bleach removed the "snow" from some, but not all of the trees.  If you try this, definitely get the plain bottle brush trees - which is what I linked to.  I have heard good things about the Tim Holz bottle brush trees, which already come bleached with a pretty wood base, but I liked having variety in the sizes.



My packages of Lemax trees were a little rough around the edges.  I didn't worry about re-shaping them until after the bleaching and dyeing, but I did do a lot of trimming because mine had some rogue branches:

 
Once I was done fussing, I put on my rubber gloves and grubby clothes and got to work.  I poured some bleach into a small container and started dunking my trees in, one at a time, until all of the colour was removed.  Eventually the bleach would get sludgey and murky, so I'd dump it and start fresh.  Some people dilute the bleach, but full strength worked just fine for me.  After bleaching, I gave each tree a rinse and set it aside.

I mixed up two buckets of concentrated Rit dye, using only about half the water recommended by the manufacturer.  I dunked a tree and set it aside to dry upright (with a towel to protect the surface from dye) - no rinsing required.  Then I dunked another tree in the dye mix, but let it soak for a few minutes, then removed and let dry.  I played around with each tree, letting each one absorb the dye for a different period of time.  Sometimes I dunked a tree in both dye mixes.  Near the end, I mixed the two dyes together and kept dunking trees.  I only used two colours of dye, but ended up with a lot of variety with this method.

I spent a couple of hours bleaching and dyeing these trees, and sequestered myself in the laundry room because it did make a bit of a mess.  When all of the trees were dyed and dried (over night), I brushed them with a stiff bristle brush to restore any wonky branches to their proper shape.  Unfortunately, some of the ones that arrived really smooshed never bounced back, but once they're on the mantle in a grouping, they look fine.

I love the vintage feel of the pastel hues - and how they really pop against my dark grey fireplace.

The candle holders are a thrift store find, which I cleaned, lightly sanded and spray painted a cheery mint.  They have the same shape as the trees, so I thought they would be a perfect way to add some height and interest - plus the mantle looks so cozy when the candles are lit!

Behind the trees are two DIY painted "skies," inspired by the moonlit look of my teal bottle brush trees.  I grabbed two scraps of wood from my wood pile and painted them black and teal, to mimic the Northern Lights we see over the lake.  I added specks of white acrylic paint to look like stars - or falling snow.  These paintings hide the vents successfully, but they also add some drama to my mantle decor.

Last year my light up celebrate sign hid the vents, so this is clearly going to be an annual challenge!

I'm really pleased with my foray into styling our narrow mantle - it's definitely doable!  Plus I can check "dye bottle brush trees" from my every-growing DIY to try list... 

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