SundayNewspaper

At Home in theNorthwest 8 By Tim McKeough The New York Times T he fireplace must be the focus of every rational scheme of arrangement,” EdithWharton and Ogden Codman Jr. wrote in their 1897 design classic, “The Decoration of Houses.” Not much has changed since then. Fireplaces are usually the dominant element in rooms lucky enough to have them, and the anchor around which furnishings are organized. In fact, most fireplaces refuse to be ignored, whether they’re beauti- ful or ugly. And therein lies the problem: What if your fireplace is clad in dated tile or discolored brick, or your mantel looks out of proportion or out of place? Giving a fireplace a new look may seem daunting, but it’s not as hard as it sounds. “It’s an architectural ornament that’s changeable,” said Thomas Jayne, an interior designer in New York and the author of “Classical Principles for Modern Design,” a book on applyingWharton and Codman’s ideas to contemporary interiors. Transforming the appearance of a fireplace is usually well worth the time and expense, he said, because “if you like your fireplace, you’ll like your whole room a lot better.” We asked Jayne and other de- signers for advice on how to deal with a problematic fireplace. Consider what you have It’s easy to write off old mantels and surrounds as unappealing when they’re damaged from years of abuse or covered in layers of soot, grime or caked paint. But don’t automatically as- sume that you need to rip out or cover up what you’ve got. Instead, try to imagine what your fireplace would look like if it were restored. “In a lot of projects, we start with ugly-looking fireplaces” that are actually beautiful underneath, said Andrea Fisk, who founded the Brooklyn-based architecture firm Shapeless Studio with Jess Thomas Hinshaw. “A lot of them have just been painted over and over and over,” Thomas Hinshaw said, “so that they’ve lost a lot of the detailing and character.” When Fisk and her life partner bought a rundown town house of their own in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, it had a dreary-looking living room fireplace covered in dirty cream-colored paint. But rather than immediately removing the mantel, Fisk performed a careful investigation. “We really had no idea what was under there,” she said. They couldn’t even tell whether the mantel was stone or wood. With a chemical paint remover, she stripped away layers of paint and was astonished by what she found: a stunning mantel of green and gray slate with hints of pink and carved floral details. “That was a wonderful sur- prise,” she said. Not only did she keep it — after removing every trace of the old paint, of course — she also based the color palette of the room on it. Paint it There’s a reason old mantels are often thick with layers of paint: It’s one of the easiest and least expensive ways to change the look of a fireplace.When done well, with an appropriate amount of paint —not gobs, which can clump, drip and look unsightly —painting can be surprisingly effective. Susana Simonpietri, owner and creative director of the Brooklyn- based design firm Chango & Co., occasionally paints brick fireplaces white for a crisp, fresh look. Recently, she did so while renovating a 1970s house in East Hampton, NewYork, which had a two-sided fireplace between the living and dining rooms made from orangy brick that neither she nor her clients liked. “We painted the outside white and the inside of the fireplace black, for a lot of contrast,” she said. It was as simple as covering the brick with a sealing primer, she said, and then applying several coats of Decorator’s White paint from Benjamin Moore. “The priming is very important,” she said. “If you don’t prime, the color from the bricks will bleed through.” Almost any type of paint can be used on the outside of a fireplace, Simonpietri said, although she prefers an exterior-grade paint for durability. But inside the firebox, it’s important to use a special high-temperature paint that can withstand the heat. A painted brick fireplace is easy to maintain, she said, even when it’s white: “All you have to do is hit it with another coat of paint when it gets dirty, over time, from the smoke.” DON FREEMAN (ABOVE) / JIM TSCHETTER (BELOW) Thomas Jayne updated this fireplace in a house in New York with Delft tiles and wood molding. Below: In a home in rural Indiana, Linc Thelan concealed an existing rubble-stone fireplace behind new framing and cement board, which he clad in manufactured stone veneer. That ugly fireplace? Fixing it is not as hard as it sounds Continued on next page HOME IMPROVEMENT