Small living room fireplace ideas – 16 ways to make this traditional home feature look modern and work for your tight space

Having a fireplace in your home, especially in the living room, is almost aspirational for many as this traditional feature often gives off the air of grandeur. But when the space is tight, a fireplace can be too imposing on a room – not with our small living room fireplace ideas though.

While you might at first think of a small space as simply an issue to solve, in our view, small living room ideas provide an opportunity to get creative – and the results are often better than if you had space aplenty. Fireplaces included.

Small living rooms are also perfect for orchestrating a cosy ambiance – and what more could you hope for when it comes to living room fireplace ideas than a cosy, comforting and cocooning atmosphere. With a side of traditional grandeur, of course.

Small living room fireplace ideas

There are several ways in which you can give your traditional fireplace a modern update, while also making it work better for your tiny living space – whether that’s with colour or choosing the right design. And we’ve rounded up the best for you.

1. Blend it in with the wall with colour drenching

The trend of colour drenching, covering the whole room in a single colour, is perfect for small living room colour schemes. And incorporating the fireplace into the overall design, blending it into the wall is the perfect way to make sure this room feature doesn’t overpower the rest of the space.

‘To make it blend in, choose the same colour as the walls to create a colour drenching effect,’ says Jimmy Englezos, senior brand manager from Ronseal. ‘This will create a monochrome look which blends the fireplace seamlessly into its surroundings. Whatever colour you choose, make sure to use a high-heat paint that can easily withstand the high temperatures.’

Mandy Rippon, product manager at Frenchic Paint, agrees, ‘If your fireplace really dominates the room, you can paint it the same colour as the walls to reduce its impact.’

2. Pick a minimalist design

‘Opt for a minimalist design as choosing a sleek, minimalist fireplace to avoid overwhelming the space,’ says Mike Monaghan, owner of Woodstove Fireplace Glass. ‘Clean lines and simple designs help maintain an open feel.’

As much as we love ornamental and decorative fireplace designs, these can look a bit too busy in a small space (sorry, maximalists!). Instead, going for a more simplistic style can be the perfect modern fireplace idea.

3. Go for light, neutral colours

It probably doesn’t come as a surprise anymore that light colours have a tendency to visually expand spaces. And painting a fireplace in your small living room a light, neutral colour will have the same effect on the surrounding space.

‘When painting a fireplace in a small living room, we suggest choosing light and neutral colours that reflect natural light effectively,’ says Amy Holton, head of creative at Lucie Annabel. ‘Opting for lighter hues and neutrals are great options to brighten up a smaller space and create the illusion of a larger room.’

Mike adds, ‘Use a light and neutral colour palette to make the room feel larger. Incorporate pops of colour through accessories and textiles to add warmth and personality.’

4. Choose a small fireplace design

You don’t necessarily have to stick with the existing fireplace in your living room, unless of course you’re under budget constraints or you’re renting. But if that’s not the case and the fireplace you have is too large for your space, then you can replace it with a smaller design.

‘It is possible to find a good selection of small fireplaces that look just as good, no matter what your room size,’ says Joanna Humphreys, fire and stove specialist at Direct Fireplaces. ‘Typically, standard size fireplaces tend to be between 55.5 and 60 inches in width. You could be thinking this is far too big to fit comfortably inside your small room without it dominating the space. The good news is that you can also find small fireplaces and surrounds in compact designs that are as narrow as 40 inches in width – this could shave almost 2 feet in space required for your fireplace.’

5. Make your fireplace ‘pop’ with colour

Draw attention to shapely small living room fireplace ideas surrounds by painting in a bold standout colour. Adding a shot of sunny yellow will give a cool, neutral scheme some warmth. It also makes sure the fireplace is the focal point of the room, rather than small living room TV ideas.

Using a pale colour on walls, teamed with light-coloured furnishings and soft tones helps create a sense of space in a compact living room, where the background colours don’t fight for attention. Balance a yellow fireplace with just a few extra accents of yellow here and there.

6. Go ‘dark’ to add a sense of space

It’s a myth that dark colours always make a space feel smaller. Used cleverly, darker colours can create the perception of depth so that walls appear to recede and make a small room actually feel much bigger. Especially if you perfect your small living room lighting ideas.

Paint an overly-large fire surround to match your wall colour so that it doesn’t stand out and dominate the room too much. Painting fittings and trims the same colour as walls in dark, tonal shades will have the effect of softening the edges and blurring the boundaries. With no harsh line breaks to interrupt the sightline, the space will feel instantly bigger.

7. Swap the fireplace for a neat wood burner

A chimney breast wall can eat into a room’s footprint and take up valuable space, as well as being restrictive in terms of layout. Consider when planning where furniture such as sofa ideas for small living rooms will be placed. You could replace a traditional fireplace for a neat, wood-burning stove that can be positioned in a more suitable spot. Stoves can be placed pretty much anywhere in a room as long as there’s a flue and all safety requirements are met.

Make your stove and flue a focal point by painting the wall behind in a bold, contrast colour. Consider a raised hearth area instead of a traditional fireplace, which can be styled-up with decorative bits and bobs and come in handy for log storage too. It will need to be topped with a heat-proof tile or slab, but can be painted to match the wall for a sleek look.

8. Go rustic with a timber mantel

Replace a bulky fire surround with a rustic-style timber mantel. Using reclaimed wood or an old timber beam will add bags of character to a living room and create a fabulous small living room fireplace ideas that will take up less space than a traditional option.

With space on top that can be styled with favourite ornaments or seasonal foliage, a timber mantel like this one is secured in place with hidden fittings, much like a floating shelf. While a reclaimed timber mantel sits perfectly in a country-style scheme, sleek polished wood mantels are also an option that would suit modern small living room ideas.

9. Stretch the space with a visual trick

Make a small living room fireplace ideas surround blend in with the backdrop by painting it the same colour as the wall. Wood wall panelling ideas covering an entire wall will give a living room a relaxed, country-style vibe. And adding a shelf that spans the width of the wall will add extra storage and display space that can be jollied up with pictures, ceramics and pretty floral displays.

Make a small space feel bigger by painting the wall in a half-and-half colour treatment. Having a darker paint colour on the bottom section of wall helps to ground the room and provides a contrast backdrop for furniture and colourful soft furnishings. A lighter colour on the top section of wall and ceiling helps to create a sense of height and make a small room feel more lofty.

10. Put a wood burning stove in the fireplace

While you certainly can completely swap out the entire fireplace for a wood burner, you could also install the stove inside the fireplace.

‘There are plenty of compact stoves on the market today that would fit well into smaller fireplaces and rooms,’ says Phil Wood, country manager for the UK and Ireland at Contura. ‘Replacing an open fireplace with a closed wood burner will significantly improve both indoor and outdoor air quality. This will be particularly beneficial in a smaller living room, where air circulation is likely to be more limited compared to larger equivalents.’

‘Wood burning stoves are far more efficient than open fireplaces. Firstly, because heat transfer is convected into the room rather than being lost up the chimney – as is the case of conventional open fireplaces – making a wood burner 60% more efficient at heating the room. Secondly, a log burner will use less wood, meaning it is cheaper to run and leads to a better fuel economy,’ he concludes.

And it’s also a great Scandi decorating idea if you ask us.

11. Opt for floor-to-ceiling tiles

While paint or wallpaper is often the covering of choice for a chimney breast wall, tiling the area instead offers the chance to create a stunning focal point living room feature wall idea. Floor-to-ceiling tiles will also draw the eye upwards and is a clever way of creating a sense of height in a small or poky living room.

Choose a standout colour to add the wow-factor to your tiling and opt for Moroccan-style Zellige tiles to create a rustic, rough-and-ready look around your small living room fireplace ideas. Their irregular shape and glaze imperfections gives more of a handcrafted flavour, rather than the uniform look created using standard ceramic tiles.

12. Add country charm with panelling

Dispensing with a fireplace and slotting in a neat wood burner idea is a great way of freeing up some extra space in a small living room. But instead of leaving the surrounding wall space empty, try a rustic-look cover-up that will bring bags of country charm.

Cladding the chimney breast wall with timber panelling is a lovely way of giving a small space a decorative focal point and is a clever way of covering up less-than-perfect plaster or brickwork. 

Painting the panelling a dusky shade will help to frame a freestanding stove and adding a simple shelf will create an area for display. Consider contrast patterned wallpaper in adjoining alcoves to really pretty up the space.

13. Make the space shine

Increase the feeling of space in a small living room by hanging a large living room mirror idea above the fireplace. Mirrors help to bounce light around a room and teamed with pale wall colours and muted soft furnishings, can help to boost natural light levels and make a small room feel lighter, brighter and more spacious.

Avoid positioning a mirror too high above small living room fireplace ideas, so that it doesn’t end up reflecting the ceiling, a bare wall or doorway and losing its aesthetic appeal. Try hanging it just a few inches or so above the mantel, high enough so that you can see yourself in it properly, but low enough so that it will reflect back any decorative pieces displayed along the mantel.

14. Use the mantel for display

Whether you have a fabulous fireplace that you want to celebrate, or one that’s less-than-lovely that you’d prefer to disguise, a mantel is a prime spot for a styled-up display area which can become a focal point in its own right.

Create a more considered display by taking the colour theme, room decor and style of your small living room fireplace ideas into account when choosing your display pieces. Then go for a mix of items in different shapes, sizes and colours to create variation. Look at living room shelving ideas for display inspiration.

Start with taller items at the back, working your way along the mantel and layering pieces, with smaller items at the front. Try propping pictures against the wall or placing short items on a stack of books to add height. Create mini vignettes here and there, placing similar items together in groups of three or five (odd numbers work better than even) and remembering to leave a little free space to give your display room to breathe.

15. Go for space-saving ‘built-ins’

Making use of alcove ideas either side of a fireplace can be a handy space-saver in a small living room. But while useful for media storage and bookshelves, fireside alcoves do tend to be non-standard widths and heights, so it can be tricky finding off-the-peg furniture to fit.

Having storage built to slot in is a way around the problem, with a carpenter able to build bespoke cabinets and open shelving to fit the space exactly. For a less-pricey option, try designing your own made-to-measure furniture via companies like Jali, who will create customised mdf furniture that is then assembled and DIY fitted at home.

16. Blend in an unused fireplace

If you have a non-working fireplace idea or an empty hearth that looks bare and dark out of season, there are plenty of ways that you can jolly-up the space and make it feel more homely year round.

Try faking it, by filling an empty hearth with a stack of logs to add a rustic country vibe. Add a splash of colour by painting the cut ends of logs here and there - use tester pots of paint to use up any leftovers.

Alternatively, fill an empty hearth with a display of flowers or greenery. Use a selection of vases or planters in different shapes and heights, positioning taller foliage at the back to fill the space. Using a selection of pillar candles in assorted heights is another lovely way of filling an empty hearth and they can be lit at night time to create a cosy glow.

FAQ

Where do you put a TV in a small living room with a fireplace?

‘One of the big problems is that most people tend to have two very different focal points in a living room – the fireplace and the TV,’ says Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, designer and TV presenter. ‘And somehow we want to accommodate both within the same axis.’

Opinions are divided when it comes to whether a TV should take centre stage or you should hide a TV. One option that is popular with wide-screens is to position the TV centrally above a fireplace, for optimum viewing pleasure. Choosing a TV size that is in scale with the small living room fireplace ideas underneath is a way of creating a more balanced look. And although many are against having a TV in such a central spot, positioning it above the fireplace means that there aren’t two competing focal points.

Alternatively, if space is tight, positioning the TV in a corner spot is another option that works well and isn’t as ‘in your face’ as mounting it centrally above a fireplace. Consider placing the TV on a media unit slotted into a fireside alcove, or alternatively mounting it on the wall via a bracket.

See? There is so much creativity and so much fun to be had when coming up with these small space solutions and then realising them. Enjoy!