The Rise of the Stone Fireplace
Good news. Actually, great news. You know that dream home upgrade you’ve always wanted? The one you always thought would actually lose you money when it came time to sell your home? Well right now in 2017 and 2018, it’s a “Seller’s Market.” Meaning you will get more money from the sale of your home, and all those upgrades to the interior and exterior of your home will pay off–big time. And as we here at AAA Fast Construction, the best stone masons in Kansas City, have begun scheduling and planning with our customers for summer 2017, we’ve noticed a huge increase in one type of home upgrade in particular: the stone fireplace. This leads us to our prediction for the year: the stone fireplace will be this year’s “must-have” home upgrade.
Whether indoor or outdoor, we know you want one too. So we decided to lay out several design ideas below for those that are still on the fence on what a stone fireplace can do for a home’s interior or exterior. Hopefully, this will get the creative wheels turning and you’ll discover that there’s no limit to what a skilled stonemason can build for you. So dream. Envision. Create. And enjoy the following examples.
Indoor Stone Fireplaces
Today’s stone fireplaces do not have a limit on their style and functionality. They can be traditional and cozy or modern and trendy. Stone choice, placement, accents, and color are all opportunities to draw the eye to the room’s featured focal point. According to Architectural Stone Elements Blog, the fireplace can make or break a first impression of a room, or even the whole house. Check out these stone fireplace examples from Home Edit.
Traditional Stone Fireplace with White Paint Coating
Just because it’s stone doesn’t mean it can’t be painted to match a room’s color palette. White-painted stone is a recent popular trend that brings out the texture of the stone without overpowering the room’s theme with a dark or “off” color. This technique works great in rooms that want to stick to a soft color palette, especially those that center around white or pastels.
Unique Stone Fireplace with Swirl Design
This above example beautifully illustrates that the imagination is the limit on what a high-end stonemason can dream of and achieve. The swirls are reminiscent of Van Gogh’s famous “Starry Night” painting.
Modern Art Design Stone Fireplace
For those that love the more trendy indoor fireplace style, this use of different stone sizes and types gives it a very modern-art feel. It’s a perfect blend of round stone as the main material, with flat stones as the base and accent piece. It also tops it off with a use of natural space to give the stones a directional flow. You can imagine every visitor’s reaction as they walk through that front door. Definite and immediate “wow” factor.
Light Earth Tone Fireplace
And while all the previous fireplaces are wonderful in their own right, personally, I prefer this simple design from Decoist. The color scheme of this room revolves around light earth tones and the fireplace complements it wonderfully without being too obtrusive or bold. It ties the room together without stealing focus. This is a space that is comfortable and relaxing. Just what I need after a day of working and playing with my kids.
Outdoor Stone Fireplaces
Today’s modern stone fireplace doesn’t have to just be located indoors. Many of them are being built outside and are setting the tone and decor of beautiful outdoor living spaces. The folks over at HGTV claim that a well-built, high-end stone fireplace can turn an area from basic and standard to beautiful and luxurious with the choice of stone and design.
Outdoor Stone Fireplace from HGTV
In the picture above, we can see that the stone fireplace on the right accents the low stone walls that run throughout the area. This setup is perfect for hosting parties, or even just lounging outside during a chilly night with a cup of hot apple cider.
Outdoor Stone Fireplace from HGTV with Bluestone Capped Walls
Again, here we have another amazing example from HGTV that gives off that coziness vibe. And with bluestone caps on the patio’s low walls, they act as extra seating for larger get-togethers with friends and family.
Outdoor Stone Fireplace with Dark Earth Tone
And finally, from FS Landscaping Contractors, comes this example of an outdoor stone fireplace set on a stone patio. The dark browns and earth tones really accentuate the colors of the forest in the background. Can you imagine this space in autumn when the leaves turn red and gold and brown? I don’t think I would get up from those chairs until winter.
With these examples, we hope that you can see how easy our 2017 prediction was to make. Stone fireplaces will hands down be one of this year’s top home upgrades across the country. Even our mortgage banker friend, Victor Owens, over at Community National Bank agrees that it's a "Seller's Market" and the recoup of money put into a home’s upgrades during the selling process will be extremely high. So do it. Upgrade with class. Upgrade with luxury. Whether outdoors or indoors, get that stone fireplace you’ve always wanted. You deserve it.