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Having a fireplace in your home is like hitting the design jackpot. It can be a space to showcase your love of tilework, not to mention it’s an extra surface for showing off your pottery collection. Even nonworking ones are major architectural wins—so if you’re lucky enough to have a hearth, don’t sleep on its endless design options. One of the best ways to dress up a lackluster fireplace is as easy as it is bold: Just give it a lick of paint. These six showstoppers are living proof.
The Literal Work of Art
Between the electric blue front and the flame-inspired mural, it would be hard for anything to pull attention away from this fiery corner in the Maison Flaneur Show House. Grab a few paintbrushes and go wild—there’s no wrong way to freehand.
The Hearth Hack
So you don’t have a traditional built-in fireplace? No problem. Just deck out the wall behind a wood-burning stove or chiminea with abstract shapes and a mélange of colors, like in this Sydney home featured in House of Glam.
The Supporting Player
The pale blue limewash paint in this 2LG Studio–designed bathroom coats both the fireplace surround and the wall behind it, creating a dreamy backdrop for the geometric green tilework.
The Common Thread
Bold Wallshoppe wallpaper, bright paint, and checkerboard tile—all featuring the same shade of aqua—add up to quite the display.
The Monochrome Moment
Here’s one way to make your living room stand out: Expand the fireplace’s paint job to coas every available surface, from the built-in bookshelves to the ceiling. Christina Bryant’s apartment uses this trick in her eclectic space.
The Color-Blocker
Alternatively, you don’t have to pick just one color. Here, Black Lacquer Design kept the walls white, choosing instead to highlight the smaller elements—including, yes, the fireplace—with a rainbow of hues. Sure, magenta-painted brick is a bold choice, but across from a crimson sofa and citron console, it fits right in.