Change of Hearth

Simple Makeovers Can Light Up a Fireplace

Designers often say a fireplace is the focal point of a room. But if yours leaves you cold, take heart. Giving it a facelift can be easier and cheaper than you think.

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Cerphe Colwell and his wife, Susan, were bowled over by the five-level townhouse overlooking a lake in Reston they bought two years ago. But they were utterly underwhelmed by the wimpy white mantelpiece and glass-and-brass doors on the builder's original model.

"I wanted something big. I'm thinking Stonehenge," says Cerphe Colwell, the pioneering underground and new-music radio DJ who is now heard on "World Class Rock" (94.7 FM). So after moving in, the couple sketched a more massive fireplace in the soaring great room, then called in Concrete Jungle, a fabricator in Frederick, to cast them a new one. Total cost: about $3,200, says company owner Kelly Carr.

Similarly, Tom and Sandy Ross Jones couldn't bear the "old-fashioned" floor-to-ceiling brick fireplace of their '50s Alexandria rambler, despite the attempt by an earlier occupant to disguise it with white paint. So as part of a 2003 renovation, they had contractors sheath the brick in drywall, paint the whole thing celadon green to match the adjacent living room walls and add a sleek black granite surround and hearth. Total cost: under $1,500.

In both cases, there was nothing really wrong with the original fireplaces -- except the owners didn't like them. And the makeovers drew raves. "We were completely surprised at how this simple, inexpensive change made such a huge difference in the room," says Sandy Ross Jones, an event planner.

Josh Baker, president of Bowa Builders in McLean, has seen hundreds of facelift candidates in this area. "A lot of the time, the brick is not attractive. Certain styles have changed, or you see an entire wall of brick. For a while there were also these firebox cubbies for wood storage. People tend to be getting away from that."

In one Great Falls home, he says, a floor-to-ceiling brick fireplace with two built-in niches was completely transformed: The firebox was given an earthy fieldstone surround; on either side, identical wood cabinets and doors were added, with a small window cut over each cabinet. One cupboard now houses the sound system; the other conceals access to the woodpile outside the house. Total cost: $10,000.

Dated brick is not the only problem Baker cites. "Particularly in '70s and '80s houses, you had big, thick rustic beams applied to the wall as a mantel shelf, and those are out of favor," he says. "We take them off and replace them with something traditional, or nothing at all."

Decorative woodwork often is good solution, whether it's a simple, ready-made mantelpiece or elaborate custom work. "In a more masculine den, we'll stain the millwork. For a traditional look, we'll paint it," Baker says.

Designer Chad Alan of Washington has performed a number of personality transplants on unloved fireplaces. For one project in Potomac, he left the existing mantel and shelf in place but added vertical panels of custom millwork from mantel to ceiling to draw the eye upward. Everything was painted white, and sconces were installed to flank a pair of vivid botanical prints. Total cost, with lighting: $1,800.

Alan also likes to use mirrors to cover the fireplace surround, the space between the firebox opening and the mantel. "They provide a flash of light, they reflect color, they look really great and they don't cost very much," he says.

Laytonsville designer Dana Tydings has mirrored the surround on two of her own fireplaces. She calls this the "second-cheapest way" to go because silvered glass with a polished edge starts at about $9 a square foot, and even a sliver can pack a punch.