Blog

Tile Fireplace Design Ideas

Want to give your old fireplace a new look? Consider a new tile fireplace surround.

Tile Fireplace Design IdeasRed brick fireplaces just scream 1980s, don’t they? Well, if you have an older red or brown brick fireplace in your home, painting it white or another neutral color is not your only option. With a bit more effort and investment, you give your old fireplace a whole new look by re-facing it with tile. Here are some intriguing design ideas to consider when choosing fireplace tile for your project.

Pretty Pop of Color

One interesting fireplace tile design idea that will totally transform the look of your room in a rather unexpected way is to choose a really bright, pretty, shiny tile. This takes the fireplace from a sort of cozy but utilitarian feel and turns into a jewel-like focal point for the room.

Big Border

If your fireplace has an ornate mantle and detailed woodwork framing the opening, you may want to avoid using small tiles that could make things look too busy. Instead, opt for a large tile that is big enough to cover the old brick surround between the woodwork and the fireplace opening with just a single row of tiles all around. You can choose a bold color or a neutral tone, but avoid patterns for this design since you want to avoid busyness.

Textured Tile

If the woodwork around your fireplace is very plain, you might want to choose tiles that are going to bring more interest and appeal to the space. Any kind of designer tile could work, but to maximize the visual interest and create a big contrast against the bare walls beside the fireplace, pick a tile that has a bit of texture.

Take it to the Mantle

If you don’t already have a mantle, or if you just don’t like the one you do have, consider creating the entire fireplace surround including the mantle shelf from tile. This can easily be accomplished using the right combination of tile shapes. You can even create the look of faux-pillars on either side of the fireplace opening using special designer tiles.

Contemporary Look

To give a contemporary look to your fireplace, you might consider removing the mantle (if you have one) and extending the tile all the way up to the ceiling, making the fireplace the centerpiece of an accent wall. Of course, for this design to work you need to make sure that the fireplace opening and your tile selection support the contemporary look. This design works best with a sleek, gas fireplace insert or at the very least a plain square fireplace opening. Large, monochromatic tiles are usually chosen for this type of tile fireplace to help create the bold, clean contemporary look.