If you are reading this article, chances are you fit into one of two categories. You are either someone who is currently in the process of working with a home builder or an architect to build a new home for yourself and looking into fireplace options, or you are looking to spruce up your living room with a fireplace atmosphere.
While you can easily hire an interior designer to help remodel your living room or give it a makeover, this isn’t necessary. In this guide, we are going to help you with all kinds of decorating ideas and fireplace ideas (by the way – you can upgrade your bedroom with our electric fireplace) so that you can get a fireplace as inviting as any other piece of furniture in your living room. We will talk about fireplace design for a modern living room, and many other design ideas and decor ideas that will help your living space look stunning and inviting.
In The Guide That Follows, Here Is Everything That Will Be Covered:
- What Are The Benefits of Having a Living Room With Fireplace? – To begin with, this section will explain everything that is great about having a fireplace in your living area and how it helps give you a cozy living room feel.
- Does The Fireplace Need To Be The Focal Point In a Living Room With a Fireplace or Can The TV Be The Focus In The Living Room? – For this next part, we will discuss how a fireplace can play into the focus of a room, especially with different furniture layouts or furniture arrangements.
- What Are Some Home Decor and Interior Design Tips To Spruce Up a Living Room Fireplace? – Whether you have a large room that can benefit from things like shelving, or a small living room that is more minimalist, this section will give you plenty of ideas for your home so that it can get the most out of the fireplace that you put in it.
- How Can You Find Inspiration When It Comes To Living Room Design or Home Decor In Regards To a Fireplace In Your Living Room? – If you are someone who is specifically looking for inspiration for your own living room ideas, this section will help by offering ways to find samples and inspiration to help you along.
- What Type of Fireplace Is Best For The Living Room: Wood, Gas, Or Electric? – These three types of fireplaces have all of their strengths and some have their downsides. In this section, we are going to examine just which type of fireplace you should consider putting in your home.
- What Electric Fireplaces Types Can You Find For The Living Room? – If you are someone who wants to install an electric fireplace in their home, there are quite a few types to choose from. This section will break down those types so that you aren’t overwhelmed with the multitude of choices.
- Are Generic Fireplaces On Amazon Okay To Buy? – While many of the decorating items can be purchased on sale on Amazon, you might not want to get a generic fireplace from there. This section will explain the importance of getting a brand-name fireplace directly from the company that makes it.
- Which Electric Fireplace For The Living Room Looks The Most Like The Real Thing? – If you want an electric fireplace that truly captures the essence of a real wood-burning fireplace, MagikFlame fireplaces are what you are looking for. This final part of the guide will explain everything there is to love about MagikFlame fireplaces.
What Are The Benefits of Having a Living Room With Fireplace?
A fireplace in the main room of your house is something that comes with a great sense of nostalgia. It is a warm beacon and ushers a feeling of community with family and friends in your home. For this reason, it is a great idea to include a fireplace as an integral part of the design of your living room. Not only will a good fireplace provide you with warmth, but it can add an aesthetic appeal that fits most design styles within a living room. It can be a beautiful focus to any room or even play a secondary role in the visuals off to the side of the room. In the evening, the warm glow of a fireplace can add a beautiful atmosphere to the room that is unattainable with other forms of lighting. A quality fireplace can also allow for an auditory experience when you hear the relaxing crackling of burning logs.
Does The Fireplace Need To Be The Focal Point In a Living Room With a Fireplace or Can The TV Be The Focus In The Living Room?
In many cases, a fireplace makes the perfect point of focus in the room. However, this isn’t always preferred for some families. If you are a family that likes to use the living room as a gathering to watch TV, movies, or play games together, you might prefer to have the TV as the main focus of the room. Aesthetically, this can still look just fine.
If you prefer the TV to be the focus of your room, you can consider a smaller fireplace that allows the TV to be the bigger object. Or, you can get a corner fireplace that will even help you save some space. Another great option that you can choose to go with is if you install a standard fireplace against the wall and actually mount your TV up above it. This will allow both to become the fireplace in the same vertical space. Of course, this kind of setup is only safe with electric fireplaces, and you should avoid this with fireplaces that burn wood unless you want to repair your TV after the smoke and rising heat destroy it.
You can get an entire media cabinet to house your TV so that your TV is inside of a beautiful piece of furniture, but not visible unless it is being used. That will allow the fireplace to be the focus of the room when you want it to be, or the TV to be the focus when in use. Another way to get around this is to use an LED projector for your room. This can be stealthily installed into the ceiling so that you don’t see anything until you actually turn it on against the wall, projecting the screen onto the wall above the fireplace. Keep in mind that for the projector to work correctly, the room will need to be dark, so this can cause problems during daytime use unless you have heaving light-blocking curtains.
What Are Some Home Decor and Interior Design Tips To Spruce Up a Living Room Fireplace?
Before you even begin decorating your living room, you need to consider the size, layout, and style. If you have a small living room, you’re going to have to make decisions about your must-have items and how you want to display everything. With a larger room, you have more freedom to introduce even more elements.
What style are you going for and what fireplace style do you want? Will you have a traditional brick fireplace or maybe even a stone fireplace? Will you have a modern look where you want it to match, clean lines and shapes? Do you want something grand and luxurious to go with a chandelier? Do you need plenty of shelving for a boho or bohemian look with lots of interesting cultural items on display? Do you want to make the room feel cozy and inviting with a more rustic look or do you want a clean and modern take?
Whatever you decide, your living room decor will have a lot to do with the color scheme that you choose. If you want a modern look, consider a fireplace with a white mantel to match clean white walls. If you have darker living room furniture or paint colors on the walls, you might prefer a fireplace with a darker wood mantel.
It is important to consider your living room layout as well. Are you going to have a large sectional couch? Or will you opt for a smaller couch and maybe an accent chair near a bookshelf for a cozy reading area? Regardless of the living room layout, make sure the elements match and are balanced throughout the room. If you want a beautiful area rug to go under your coffee table, you can try some ornate sconces on the wall above the fireplace that seems to match the same style.
Even if you go with an electric fireplace, it can look much more traditional if you have one that appears to have logs inside with flame effects. Logs help add authenticity to it rather than just some basic flames that look like they are coming from nothing.
If you are someone who is more adventurous and likes DIY projects, you can even build your own mantel that perfectly fits the style that you are going for. When you are done, choose the best centerpiece for the mantel, rather than many small objects. This can be a family portrait, a piece of art, fresh-cut flowers in a vase, or anything else that fits your room.
If you choose to build your fireplace into a recessed wall, you can build bookcases on either side of the fireplace. This will allow you to display your book collection, but will also give plenty of space for more pieces of art, photos, collectibles, or anything else you are proud to show in the main room of your home.
How Can You Find Inspiration When It Comes To Living Room Design or Home Decor In Regards To a Fireplace In Your Living Room?
If you need inspiration, there are tons of places you can look online. First, you can simply start doing a Google search for living room fireplace-style ideas or something along those lines. This will bring up a large number of blogs with lists that will fit exactly what you are looking for. You can also get on Pinterest and do a search for another quick way to find inspiration. Pinterest is good, especially for people who like DIY-style projects. It will show plenty of helpful tutorials on how to make things that will spruce up your living room visuals.
If you really want some luxurious ideas, go on YouTube and look at walkthroughs of homes from rich and famous celebrities. While you may not be able to afford some of the absurd things they include in their homes, you might see some little sparks of inspiration or you may be able to find a more budget-friendly version of the same thing. The possibilities are endless.
What Type of Fireplace Is Best For The Living Room: Wood, Gas, Or Electric?
While wood fireplaces are the most traditional of these listed. They also come with quite a bit of issues to consider:
- They add a high risk of a house fire to your home both from the flame that is exposed but also from all the flammable soot inside the chimney.
- Smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning are both serious concerns that you have to worry about.
- Using a wood-burning fireplace every day can become a part-time job with all of that hassle involved.
- A lot of heat is lost through the flue and chimney which makes wood fireplaces very bad for heat efficiency.
- The smoke that is produced by wood fireplaces will leave a lingering smell in your home and can be off-putting to guests when they come over.
- Smoke is guaranteed to yellow your white walls over time and will also stain your lighter furniture, carpets, and rugs.
- Unfortunately, you can’t mount a TV above wood fireplaces because of the directly rising heat and the smoke that will break the TV.
- Somewhere around your house, you’re going to need plenty of storage for all of that wood that you will be burning.
- Building a new wood-burning fireplace is a huge undertaking. It will take a lot of time, money, and effort to complete.
Gas fireplaces are a slightly better fireplace if you are looking for something that burns cleaner and is a little safer. But it also has some problems:
- An exposed flame still adds to the risk of a house fire within your home.
- Smoke inhalation isn’t really an issue, but many gas fireplaces still produce dangerous carbon monoxide.
- The color of the flame can look very bad, and it is at its very worse when you start using gases that burn blue.
- Since gas fireplaces are basically just complex Bunsen burners, the flames are usually quite weak and look nothing like a real fireplace should.
- To install a built-in gas fireplace, you need to hire a professional who will need to install it. They will also need to install gas lines, and possibly ventilation for some fireplaces.
Electric fireplaces are the best fireplace solution for modern homes. After reading about these benefits it will be obvious why:
- You don’t need to worry about an added fire risk because nothing is actually burning inside of an electric fireplace.
- It isn’t going to produce things like carbon monoxide or smoke.
- Being smokeless also means you don’t need to worry about a bad smoky smell or staining of your walls and furniture.
- There is no hassle involved in operating an electric fireplace. It is very straightforward and simple. If you can set the temperature of a basic central heating unit, you can easily operate an electric fireplace.
- Installation is quite effortless with electric fireplaces. Unlike wood or gas fireplaces, you just need to find a place you want it and plug it into an outlet.
- You aren’t limited to just your main room. You can put one in the dining room, family room, home office, and more.
- One of the best features is that it is perfectly safe to hang a TV above the mantle of an electric fireplace. There is no smoke and all of the heat is blown towards the center of the room.
- Since there is no ventilation, they are incredibly heat efficient. All of that heat remains in the room, allowing the fireplace to use very little electricity to keep it warm.
- With electric fireplaces, you can easily set up supplemental or zone heating. This means for large homes, you install two or more fireplaces around the house. You only run fireplaces when a zone is being used by somebody, allowing you to heat a smaller area and keep your heating bill low.
- Electric fireplaces usually come with a basic remote control or, in some higher-end models, a smartphone app.
- The flame effect for higher-end electric fireplaces can properly capture real fireplace ambiance where a gas fireplace fails to do so.
What Electric Fireplaces Types Can You Find For The Living Room?
There are quite a lot of electric fireplaces out there and the choices can be overwhelming to people getting their first one. This section should help. Here are the most common electric fireplace types and which you might want to go with:
- Flat Wall Fireplace Mantel Combination Package – This is your standard electric fireplace wall unit. You would install one of these on the floor of your home, up against a flat wall, and attach the mantel during installation.
- Corner Fireplace – These are fireplaces that tend to function just like their flat wall counterparts, however, they are shaped to more easily fit in the corner of the room for people who prefer that.
- TV Stand Fireplace – This is simply a TV stand that has an electric fireplace that has been built inside of it. However, sometimes these fireplaces aren’t quite as good due to the limited space, and they also have less space for shelves.
- Corner TV Stand Fireplace – This is the same thing as the media entertainment center fireplace above, but built into a corner-friendly shape. Unfortunately, the problems you commonly find in Corner TV stand fireplaces are usually even more common in their corner versions. You might be better off with a standard corner fireplace with the TV on top.
- Wall Mount Electric Fireplace – These are fireplaces that are mounted on a wall instead of being placed on the floor. They are commonly also installed into recessed walls that help add to their modern look.
- Electric Fireplace Insert – These units go into the firebox opening of traditional wood fireplaces to make them completely electric.
- Freestanding Electric Fireplace Heater – These are space heaters with a fireplace aesthetic. Unfortunately, these tend to look cheap and heat poorly except in small spaces. These should usually be avoided.
- Electric Fireplace Stove – This is a unit that is trying to imitate the look of a rural wood stove. These look out of place in most homes.
Are Generic Fireplaces On Amazon Okay To Buy?
Like most things in life, when you choose to buy electric fireplaces, what you pay for is what you are going to get. While a tempting sale on one of these websites can seem like a good idea, it is almost certain that you are going to end up with a fireplace that completely disappoints you in the long run. Generic fireplaces simply don’t perform at the level needed to keep your home warm. Additionally, once they are actually in your home, you might notice how cheap the visuals are and just how poor the overall build quality of the unit is.
Instead of quickly rushing into the purchase of a cheap, generic fireplace, consider buying a high-end fireplace, directly from the company that makes it if possible. With high-end fireplaces, the initial cost might seem like a lot, but you will actually save quite a lot of money in the long run. The more powerful heater will also be a lot more efficient, resulting in much lower heating bills than with generic alternatives. This savings in the heating bill alone will eventually let the quality fireplace actually pay for itself. Additionally, you can expect these fireplaces to last much longer so you are repairing or replacing a fireplace after just a couple of short years like what often happens with generic fireplaces. Consider an electric fireplace an investment rather than an expense. In the long run, it could pay for itself with better heating costs, and a high-end fireplace can definitely help with the resell value of your home.
Which Electric Fireplace For The Living Room Looks The Most Like The Real Thing?
MagikFlame fireplaces are leagues ahead of most electric fireplaces when it comes to the ability to produce flames that look like the real thing.
However, that isn’t all that these amazing fireplace units have to offer. Here is a list of the most common features people tend to love about MagikFlame fireplaces:
- Holographic Flames That Are 3D Projected Onto a Physical Log Set – Inside of a MagikFlame fireplace is a firebox with a physical log set above a glowing ember bed. Because of MagikFlame’s Holoflame technology, you can select between 30 different beautiful holographic flame styles to be projected onto the log set. These flames dance and flicker and shoot off sparks of embers. Many people won’t be able to tell that it is even an electric fireplace and will mistake it for the real thing.
- Immersive Crackling Log Sounds That Help Elevate The Fireplace Experience – Perfectly complimenting the incredible visuals of MagikFlame fireplaces, the sounds of crackling log sounds can be heard coming from the fireplace. These give another form of realism to your senses. In addition to the crackling log sounds, you can also play some incredibly relaxing nature sounds as well.
- A 5,200 BTU Heater That Is Both Powerful and Energy Efficient – Using an infrared quartz heating coil, the heater inside of a MagikFlame fireplace can make a space of 1,000 square feet nice and cozy. While some homes might be larger than this, one MagikFlame fireplace will be fine for most houses, apartments, and condos. If you happen to have an extremely large home, you can actually save even more on your heating bill by installing a second MagikFlame fireplace in another part of the home and only turning on a fireplace when that zone of the house is being used.
- Control Your Fireplace With Your Smartphone or Tablet – You don’t need to add yet another boring remote control onto the table next to your couch. Instead, with MagikFlame fireplaces, you can install their app directly onto your smartphone or tablet. This allows you to control your fireplace from anywhere within your home. You can change the visuals, audio, temperature, and more.
