Totally agree with Coco Nuts. It's a beautiful fireplace and only painting the mantle shelf and placing a large mirror would give it a contemporary look.

Hi, I am amazed by some of the advice I have read on here so I hope you can share your wisdom on our living room. We're mid renovation and here we are so far: I would love to have balance on the fireplace wall. Any ideas? I have thought about a large piece of art to the left of the chimney but the TV also will go to the left. (I'd rather keep TV away from chimney breast). How would you balance the window dressings also? I like the idea of very high sheers but will that work and from wall to wall or just over the windows? The room is 6.1 metres x 5.4 metres. It's North facing so this is as bright as it gets! We're in the process of picking a fireplace too. How would you bring balance to the room?

Looking for ideas for a feature wall in a Living Room with no chimney breast? Don't want to put TV over fireplace (too high) but can't figure out how to make shelving/cabinets look good at the sides of the fireplace...

Hi Aisling, In my opinion the black insert is a much more contemporary look over the brass one. A lot of the current trends in fireplaces are linear black incerts. The black insert would also be easier to work with if in a couple of years you decided to change out the mirror or the curtin pole, you would not be tied to designing around the brass. I have attached two pictures below of a white fire place with a black insert and gold mirror and i think it works really nicely. Hope this helps :) Best, Emily