Bought two bookshelves on either side of electric fireplace. Looks yuk

last year

last modified: last year

Hi, I bought two plain white bookshelves with legs, bottom cupboard doors, and top doors made of glass. The idea was to go on either side of an electric fireplace suite. It all looks really bad. Firstly, fireplace suite is an off cream but bookshelves are ice white. Secondly, booksheleves have legs. Should I scrap the whole idea, relocate bookshelves in other rooms or go ahead with the plan, cut bookshelf legs, and paint the fireplace as close a white as the bookshelves? The whole idea was to make an unused wall into a cosy and nice space. Help.

Update: We have now taken some of the advice, removed legs, painted fireplacer. still thinking of painting the wall a darker colour to contract with the white. But much better than before I think. Thanks all. xx

After:

Featured Answer

Sonia

last year

I really like the units but it all looks a little squashed, and of course the cream fireplace doesn’t sit well with the white. Before you start chopping up the units, I would try painting the wall in the middle a darker hue, along with the fireplace as suggested by colourhappy. Choose a colour to suit the furniture in the room, so you could try navy, dark green or a lovely teal maybe. It’s a reasonably easy and cheap solution so worth a try.

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Comments (16)

Sonia
last year
Can you share a picture?
sofiaela
Original Author
last year
Hi, done, sorry new to this so hoping it shows the picture :)
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Daisy England
last year
My first thought when looking at the photo was that the cabinets seem high on the bottom, then you have a drawer and then on top the glass doors. For me it seems as though they need dropping down so minus the legs might look better.

If it is your intention to store just books in the glass upper section then it might be a better option to just have wall shelves?
Jonathan
last year
If you had your time again you would probably but smaller cabinets….. but I think the reason you don’t like it is that the proportions of the cabinets are too high against the fireplace….. presumably changing the cabinets is not your only option.

I think I’m right in saying this electric suite could move elsewhere?

Alternatively get a carpenter to add a mantle to the fireplace to make it taller.

Put a tall picture or a mirror over the fire to trick the eye into thinking it’s taller.

And it probably looks cold because of the cool blue of the walls and the ice white cabinets…… and in turn the fire then looks discoloured although it’s probably just a warm creamy white. Again the solution is to not put them against each other or you could repaint the walls and cabinet or paint the fireplace.
sofiaela
Original Author
last year
We were thinking of sawing off the legs of the cabinets to get it even with the floor and bottom of fireplace and getting an over mantle mirror.
joycejce1
last year
I would cut off legs and paint them a colour think it would soften look.
C Wilson
last year
last modified: last year
I agree it would look better with the legs sawn off, I'd then paint the cupboards and the wall the same colour, something mid to dark and put a nice picture above the fireplace
Juliet Docherty
last year
The fire contains quite a lot of yellow and the units are cool, but the walls are actually cool too and look slightly blue/grey. The clash is due to the fact that they are not only different colours but more so that they are equally light. Value contrasts make the biggest difference to a space that looks 'off', this means that if you painted the fieplace wall darker you would lessen the clash (we would notice the dark light contrast over and above the clash of the unit and fire). The back of the units could be painted a dark colour too, it might help. Maybe someone could quickly mock this up, I would but it's not my strong point.
sofiaela
Original Author
last year
Never thought of paintingn it darker but this may be the solution to the colour issue. xx
H A
last year
Such a shame when a plan doesn’t come together. 🙁I think they’d look better without the legs. If you can find someone to construct a fake chimney breast and pull your existing fire and mantelpiece forwards, this would probably achieve the look you’re after. We went through our local fireplace showroom to find somebody. X
Eileen Nixon
last year
Before you turn into ‘girl with machete’ pull the fireplace forward to see if this looks better, if it does you could build a false chimney breast as someone has already suggested, it looks odd because they are all lined up in a row.
Lucy Williams
last year
Alternative to sawing off legs - buy a wicker storage basket (white or if not natural colour) to slide under gap of each cabinet unit to fill in the space. There must be something online that will fit well
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EJAlderson
last year
I see what you’ve taken inspiration from (!) but it doesn’t quite work because the units are further forward than the fireplace, when ordinarily it’s the other way around. I’d be inclined to make the fireplace more dominant & creating the illusion the fireplace is further forward, maybe with some block colour or leading line work (which will also sort out the contrasting whites) If it makes no difference (which I’m not 100% it will because the units are so dominant) I’d be ruthless & re-home the units and put up shelves instead
Alana Graham
last year
I dont think the fireplace being set too far back is the problem. I think it is because there is a clash with the design. The fireplace is traditional whereas the shelves are more modern. The best idea would be to paint the cabinet and fireplace the same colour and update the surrounding decor. Greenery is also needed to elevate the look.
PRO
EJAlderson
last year
I agree the design clashes but think you’ll find that if you replaced the current units with something more complimentary the problem will still exist. It’s because everything is fighting for equal attention and there is no single focal point - hence comment about making the fireplace more of one.

Bought two bookshelves on either side of electric fireplace. Looks yuk

Sonia

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Bought two bookshelves on either side of electric fireplace. Looks yuk

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