We don’t show the other side of our room very often, mostly because we still haven’t really figured it out. A couple years ago, we added a TV to the relatively small recessed wall section and despite what all of those studies say, WE LOVE HAVING A TV IN OUR ROOM! We don’t have cable, but we love to watch an episode of whatever we’re currently binging (we just finished The Staircase, are currently watching Suits, love The Great British Baking Show and are making our way through Parks & Rec for the first time–we’re Office diehards so it never really felt right before).

Because the  wall is only recessed about 7 inches on the door side, previously we had the ever-popular Ikea shoe cabinet tucked under the television for additional storage. We kept some overflow shoes and all of our socks in here. But now that the bathroom is finished and, even more so, now that the CLOSET is finished, we have no need for the additional storage which feels awesome. Except now, the television area looks more like this.

(Sorry about the bad lighting, I snapped these at night. Also, I get so many questions about our air purifier–it’s this one.) We’ve been brainstorming what we want to do with this little nook. As I mentioned before, the TV is staying. We’ve thought about built in shelves or a console table. A small bench or shallow cabinet. But after every idea, I kept asking myself “for what?”

We don’t need additional storage in here, we packed it in in the bathroom and closet. We don’t need a bench, that, let’s be honest, would likely just collect the day’s clothes. I don’t think I’m interested in extra shelves for decoration sake (we already have some decor on our nightstands). And then I thought–what about a fireplace?

It would have to be electric (they’re slim at usually only a max of 6-7″), but how cozy would that be! In fact, we’ve been fortunate enough to stay at a few nice hotels this year while traveling for work and my favorites all had a glowy fireplace we turned on while unwinding for the night. I pitched the idea to Chris and he was all in so I started looking for some inspiration photos. There were three types of fireplace walls that I was drawn to for our project.

1. MODERN/ULTRA CLEAN FIREPLACES

The first two are ultra modern/clean lined with chic flat faces from here and here.

Honestly, I love the simplicity of a flat no-fuss wall with a built in fireplace. And that’s where my head initially wanted to go. But the major difference between these and our situation is there would be no opportunity for a recessed section next to it. And I think these work so well because they jut out into the room a little bit.

Ours is kind of the opposite. If we built out a wall to enclose a fireplace, it would just look like a flat wall and not like an architectural element.

2. TRADITIONALLY TRIMMED OUT FIREPLACES ON TOP AND BOTTOM

So I started looking up a few more traditional fireplace ideas and saved was inspired by this first one that was done on a wall that was already recessed in so it was easy to see how something like this could translate to our wall. I loved the traditional tone on tone molding and all the layers making the whole wall the fireplace is on an accent.

I also felt inspired by this onethis one, specifically because it used the same wall mounted electric fireplace we’re probably going to purchase (linked below). I was worried about how a more horizontal design would look in a squared off space, but this looks great! We could introduce some sort of tile, but I liked the tone on tone trim of the one above, too. This example used drywall to trim out the top of the wall.

The third example is a beautiful example of how a little bit of trim can go a long way. I love the simplicity. I love the contrasting, more beefed up base with barely there (but definitely there!) trim up top.

3. FLAT UPPER WALLS WITH A TRIMMED OUT FIREPLACE

These examples all keep the upper wall flat and make the fireplace the real star by trimming it out big time. We did this style in our basement fireplace makeover, but I love how some of these examples it’s exaggerated even more by carrying some of the flat wall all the way down the sides of the trim (although I don’t think we would have the room to mimic that in our space).

(sources 1, 2, 3, 4)

We’re taping off where the fireplace would hang and a bunch of molding options before we get started, but we decided a 36″ wide fireplace (for reference our TV is 43″ wide) would be just enough to allow us to add some sort of molding around it.

We’re leaning toward this one from Amazonthis one from Amazon that comes in a bunch of different sizes and is meant to be recessed into the wall (a lot of styles that we looked at hang on a wall like a TV would–not the look we’re going for.) It also has several different flame styles and heat settings and the price is right.

As for the molding options, I think I’m leaning toward the last group! I think. I’m usually the more trim the better, but with our television being wider, I worry about it looking like trim was squished around it. Either way, we’re excited to tackle this project this month and stick a fork in our room once and for all! No more conveniently cropping out corners. ;)

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