Would a piece of trim (could be simple) on the corners give a more finished transition for the tile to die into? Both ends of my range wall have backsplash tile that dies into door casings...my casings are rather elaborate, but you could do something simple and paint it the same as your drywall. On my other wall, the bs dies into nothing, and the tiler used bullnose pieces set on the vertical. You could do that, too, but I think the trim option might look better. No matter what you do, if the mantle doesn't reach the end of the wall, you'll also have to do some sort of cap to the top of the tile where it isn't covered by mantle.

I love the tile you picked, gorgeous!

I think the tile layout is fine, I'm not sure out how Else you would do it with that format tile. I think the mantle is fine and rounding the edges of the top will be okay ....my only question is I love the tile chosen and it does match your counters , but ... Somehow I don't think of white marble when I think of fireplace surround… And especially that much of it… I'm not sure why. It seems like it might be too light or too bathroom-y or too kitcheny. I'm just not sure about it.

Can you do a mock up? So we can see what it would look like to have that much white on the wall? In addition I have a general sense that I'm used to seeing a dark color on the bottom and a light color on the top, which you have reversed here.

I'm wondering if maybe something more slate like, in a very pale color could possibly work? Or you could always do drywall for the holidays and keep thinking about material going forward

What if the mantel overhung the tile by a few inches instead of the other way around?

I know this one has a hearth etc.

totally agree robo

We have a dark (in our case brown) marble fireplace surround and I do like that.

Our friends have a white glossy marble tiled fireplace surround and in their case it reads very contemporary. Also there is high contrast between their black fireplace and the white surround.

That wood is beautiful but it looks very thin for a mantel on its own. Maybe you could built up it up a little, sort of like the bottom one:

If you do not tile the entire wall and have a shorter mantel then you would probably want to keep the tiled area within the width of the mantel, sort of like this:

*edited- Robo's example is better, same idea

The tricky thing with your set up is that the fireplace does not sit on the ground and does not have a raised hearth. Plus, since tile or stone can not wrap the sides, tiling to the edges may look odd. No tile may be you best option.

This post was edited by athomeinva on Thu, Nov 20, 14 at 9:14

We have a Carrara surround...I don't think it reads too "bathroomy" but in my case, definitely dressy. Slate does make a pretty surround if you did want to go darker, though.

This is a totally different style than what you are doing, but wanted you to see the marble (this is an old pic from when we first moved in...furniture is different and more of it now, lol, and I also realized the gas logs weren't installed then!)

Beautiful!!

Nini,
It's just lovely! But it is also surrounded by all of the white wood and molding, which is most of the wall. In Breezy's design it covers the bottom half of the wall and is also a larger format. I'm not sure, as I said, I am just wondering "aloud" how that will look and I think she should mock it up before she does it.

The more I think about your fireplace the less I like any mantel or tile, what about a different direction like a floating hearth?

Small tile frame?

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[Contemporary Living Room[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-living-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_718~s_2103)

Frame and mantel set above frame? (this is petrified wood, waaay too busy I know)

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[Beach Style Living Room[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/beach-style-living-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_718~s_2110) by Holden General Contractors Woodmeister Master Builders

Marble with a shadowbox effect

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[Contemporary Living Room[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-living-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_718~s_2103) by Savannah Specialty Contractors Ellsworth-Hallett Home Professionals

Yeah, I'm not feeling this whole scheme. Too many clowns. Side shelves plus marble plus mantel plus raw edge plus plus kludgey edge to the tile plus. I don't think you need tile, and if you do it doesn't need to match your countertops. And tile protruding beyond the mantel looks wrong.

Floating mantel or floating hearth and a can of paint.

We have a small surround that is unoiled soapstone. We have carrara marble in kitchen and they work well together. The soapstone look much darker in this picture than it is in real life.

Your home is lovely!!

Thanks for the feedback. In no particular order and hopefully making sense:

Robo's first photo is what our tiler/woodworker is suggesting, but it's too fussy for me with the dark paint. You'd see a small strip of paint vertically down the sides between the tile and the wall edge, which would call attention to itself in a way I don't want. It's too much look there IMHO. I also didn't want to just do a small frame of tile to accent what I consider an ugly fireplace unit to start with, and again i thought it was too many materials and visuals for the wall.

Mocking it up??? I don't have photoshop or whatever program is used for a computer mock up, nor do I have the skills. Also, I only have those two small marble tiles with which to play. Believe me, I'm a huge proponent of mocking things up. Just can't figure out how to do it in this case.

You can sort of see what it would look like by just seeing the photos above. Dark on the top and white on the bottom. This does seem to look top heavy or unbalanced, and emphasized my low ceilings.

Nini--I did think of some trim there, but, again, it gets fussy for me. I love your fireplace!!

I don't want to beef up the mantle at all with fabricated wood. I like the simpleness of the live edge on its own. Mine does seem whimpy, I guess.

PAINT COLOR--this BM Kendall Charcoal was suggested by the color consultant I hired 3.5 years ago during reno as a color to compliment the paint colors of the rooms on either side of fireplace. The living room and family room are painted different grays. Since it's only paint, DH did it up for me last month so we could see if we like it. My fall-back for fireplace wall paint would be to paint each side to match color of the room it's facing.

TILE--I love tile and wanted to use more of the amazing tile I see online. Since the whole house is small, the kitchen with all its marble and then a yet-to-be-decided backsplash tile run up the whole range wall is very close by. We thought the marble fireplace wouldn't complete with the kitchen. DH has been pressuring me for the last 2 years to finish all these little leftover reno projects, making marble seem like the safest choice.

I hear what you're all saying. My idea won't work. Here's where I am:

1. Mantles are non-negotiable. I want them. I want to decorate them and pile little treasures on them and decorate them for the holidays and change it out for spring and hang our stockings and...and...and.

2. I'm willing to give up the loveliness of tile or stone.

3. The dark charcoal paint could be changed. I'm not tied to it.

I guess all this leads me to Marcolo's suggest of painting the remainder of the walls and slapping up the mantles. This would be quick, easy, get DH off my back, and be finished for the holidays. Three years of tolerating these ugly primed walls around the fireplace is too much.

Heck...I could have the whole thing done by Thanksgiving even.

You can always add tile later.

If you still think it needs something, mock it up with photocopies of your tile! Time-consuming but less so than tiling real marble and ripping out. I'd experiment with a wider overhang than just a few inches.

The mantle mountings will leave giant holes in the wall if tiling is done later and the mantle found to be in the wrong place. That's why I've been waiting to tile before I had the mantles cut to length and installed. Just so everything lines up right and looks like it was meant to work together.

Photocopies! Of course! Is there a way to photocopy a small sample tile like I have and extrapolate it to the 12x24" tile size?

I still think you're right about too many clowns. Although I don't really see these quality, natural materials as clowns so much.

Do you have a head-on photo of the fpl with the mantle (it looks like you taped it in place for one shot?)

I'm awful at it but I can try a mock up.

Thank you Mtn. You are kind. I'm embarrassed to show these. I was prepping for a party and trying to quickly grab some shots before the cardboard mantles had to come down. The house was a neglected mess as it gets before a party as I do all the cooking, cleaning, decorating, etc by myself.

It's hard to tell here how thick the mantle would be as the cardboard is collapsing.

And here my grandmother's antique settee was in the way. I know it needs to be reupholstered.

Wait. Stop. Before you put any work into a mockup....stop.

I've had a funeral for my 3 year long dumb idea. I buried it, mourned it, accepted it, and am moving on. I'm open to any and all ideas from anyone given these restrictions:

1. Fireplaces are in the middle of the room.

2..Side shelves are in place and staying.

3. Mantles are requirements. Even though I spent a not insignificant amount of money on the black walnut board for mantles, I'm willing to let them go. I just want mantles.

**What would YOU do?**

Sometimes, a deadline (like upcoming holidays) is a good thing. I had a small project I obsessed over. Company was coming, I did what was expedient, and never looked back.

I love the side shelves.

I love the fpl; don't know why you don't ; the see thru thing is cool, man. You don't need any other wow factor.

Since you have the black walnut, I would use it. A live edge might be a tad rustic, but i like the idea that it is split in two on each side, that is cool.

Is the one side painted grey on top? I love that color.

Anyway, I would just put up the mantle, but not all the way across. Ask your carpenter guy how far.

I don't like the fireplace as it has those "fin" vent thingies. Since ours was installed, they have come up with a simpler unit design with more glass that doesn't read contemporary. It would have been perfect. Plus, I feel like I had it framed too high on the wall. I overestimated as I was afraid of it being too low and losing the see thru effect.

Both sides are now painted Kendall Charcoal on the top in anticipation for the mantles and tile below covering the primer. It would be easy to paint out the rest.

I value your opinion on how to proceed.

I'd love input from others. So many of you have a great design eye. Thank you.

Looks like you've done a great job with your renovations. I like your style and love the giant ruler!

I think if you want more than painted wall plus mantle, I'd do tile in a border around the firebox, not half the wall. I like the charcoal paint. I don't think the tile needs to match your counters. Something simple, maybe slate or soapstone? And I'd have the mantel end about 6" from the wall edge.

If it were me I would put up the mantles and then decide if the paint works. I'm not sure, only because I'm more accustomed to thinking up a dark color on the bottom and a light color on the top… But there can be exceptions

Could you do different things on either side? I could picture an overall darker feel on the living room side and lighter/more marbley on the kitchen side. And maybe the full wall of marble on the kitchen side only?

Off topic but I like the fabric on your grandmother's settee. As for the fireplace, maybe you could do something similar to the first image that you posted, a very simple, not too deep mantel. I also really like the hearth in that pic. The dark color on your fireplace may be nice to help the very dark fireplace blend but you would probably need to paint the side bookcases too. I think I would want both sides to be the same color since it is such an open space, but I am the type that wants an open space to be all the same wall color.

breezygirl, saw this floor to ceiling marble treatment at a restaurant tonight and thought of you! Sorry for the pic, it's dark here.

Hey, Breezy, just stopping by the board again and was pleased to see you posting.

I always think a fireplace is something to sit around and get warm. Is either side of the fireplace going to have a bench, a chair or an attached hearth? How will that figure into your final look?

I like your dark paint color, and I wish I could see it on the whole thing. If you were to do this color (or a similar intensity hue), and carry it around the corner, you could paint the insides of the shelves a different color--perhaps an accent color you use elsewhere in your room. This would keep the shelves from being dark little caves you can't see into.

Jlc--thanks! I'm slowly warming to the idea of maybe tile just around the firebox. And I agree that a darker tile/stone would be best. Slate would look nice and not compete with the Carrara counters. I'd have to see some sort of photoshop or mockup to be able to tell.

Mtn--I'm not sure I'd like the balance of dark charcoal top with white bottom. I think it emphasizes my low ceilings.

Robo--different on both sides is a viable option I hadn't considered. I also appreciate you sneaking a photo of that fireplace while at dinner! You're very kind. That looks elegant, and helps me consider the options.

Hi Colorfast! Nice to see you too. I agree with you about the feeling of the fireplace. I had not planned hearths when we reno'd. The fireplace area you see used to be a gigantic brick mass of two offset fireplaces as part of the wall that separated the two sides of the house, complete with massive ugly hearth on one side. I was rebelling against that set up when I re-designed the house and moved rooms around. I wanted a sleeker look. At this point, there's not enough floor space on the living room side for hearth. On the family room side where you see little DD's art table, there's enough space. I'm hoping that when we are finally able to buy new furniture for the family and living rooms that we can add some sort of little seating by the FR fireplace.

Athomeinva--thanks. The fabric is not my style at all. It's hard to see, but there's a metallic thread running through the fabric. And it's showing its 25+ years of wear. Although the settee itself is much too ornate for my taste, I'm never going to part with it, and I don't currently have space to put it anywhere else in my house. It's a very special piece to me.

I hadn't thought about having to possibly paint the side shelves. Not sure. The sprayed on finish is so lovely right now. Hmmmm....

1. Only tile

4. Mantle below

You said the mantle will not be the full width of the wall, yes? What if you did floor to ceiling tile, of a width that matches the mantle? Then, paint out the remaining wall to match the wall color of the rest of the room.

I also like a full wall of marble tile, but that size would read bathroomy, I think. Maybe a smaller size - elongated? 4x12 or so? Or even 4x8. But then, I love marble.

I also agree the treatments on either side don't need to match, except for the mantles. I do think your mantles are kind of skimpy, though. They would be better if they were thicker.

I don't like the marble on the fireplace. But, what about picking up the dark gray in the marble and finding a slate in that or better yet a matte textured tile in that. That drawing of the tile that you included - is that 12X24 lines? For some reason it doesn't look like it.

No, to doing the sides to match each of the facing rooms - talk about too many clowns.

I just envision - with your living edge mantle - something a little more contemporary with respect to the tile and overall look.

I don't know how to embed but I've attached a tile that mimics what I'm thinking of - but perhaps something with some texture to it.

Here is a link that might be useful: textured 12x24 tile