Hello and welcome to my great article aimed at assisting you with your interior design of your fireplace. If you have a fireplace in your house or are about to install a new fireplace…please read on…what I am about to share with you will interest you greatly. Once you have decided to invest in the fantastic warmth and feel of a fireplace (you can’t beat the feeling of a roaring fire in the middle of a cold winter hey?) it’s time to consider how to finish the surround to your fireplace.
Now let’s start with the basics shall we? Good looks. No matter what style your fireplace is you need to pick an interior design material and finish that blends with your fire place aesthetically. I have seen many examples of peoples choices of materials used to surround a fire place. I have decided to take this one step further. I prefer the look and feel of stone veneer as it blends in perfectly with a fire place…think of a classic stone mantel piece and carved stone surrounds and you have the perfect vision. So I have compiled the list of 7 good reasons to install manufactured stone on your fireplace.
Reason # 1 – Heat Resistance When you think of an open fire you think of abundant radiating heat. Great if you are a person looking to get warm, not so good if you are an internal wall that isn’t designed to take radiant heat. So how do you protect the internal wall from excessive heat? That’s an easy one to answer – install manufactured stone because it is totally heat resistant. Because artificial stone is a controlled cement based product it has the same thickness throughout and the same density. Therefore it is an ideal material to shield internal walls and features from fireplace heat.
Reason # 2 – Inflammable Being heat resistant is a great benefit that manufactured stone provides you when you decorate the surround to your fire place. But let’s take that benefit one step further with being inflammable also. By choosing to install stone veneer to your fireplace you are providing your immediate surround is non-flammable. This is great piece of mind if you ever had a flame from your fire threaten your internal wall covered with stones.
Reason # 3 – Hard Wearing Fake stone veneer is a very hard material based upon a high quality fine cement. Because it is cement based it is extremely hard and impact and shock resistant. Therefore if you are stacking logs or other fuels for your fire place, you can be confident that the hand-made stone veneer you install around your fireplace will be hard wearing. So if you accidentally drop a log or ram a piece of timber into the stone you are highly unlikely to damage it. This means that your fire place surround will remain new looking and in top condition during the duration of your fire place. You must admit that nothing looks worse than broken ceramic tiles or damaged plasterboard around a fire place that has been knocked during use.
Reason # 4 – Easy To Clean During everyday living in a house wear and tear takes place. Its unavoidable. Part of the ongoing maintenance in a house is the cleaning…even if we don’t want to do it! With artificial stone the surface is non-porous and non-absorbent of liquids and spills. This is great when you want to actually wipe down and clean the surface of the veneer. This means that you can wipe it clean with very little effort and also not worry about it absorbing stains. Nobody wants a pristine quality stone veneer being spoilt in its appearance with unwanted stains. It would detract a great deal from the spectacular appearance of the fire place.
Reason # 5 – Style Now that we have addressed the physical benefits of manufactured stone veneer with the hard wearing, impact resistant, inflammable and easy to clean benefits, it’s time to look at the interior design qualities it possesses. So we start with the word style. Fake stone veneer is a true replica of natural stone…without all of the faults, high premium cost and limited supply of natural stone. This means that you can achieve outstanding and affordable style for your fire place with the manufactured product.
Reason # 6 – Create A Feature Create a fire place in your home, then make it a stunning feature – by cladding it with manufactured stone veneer. Don’t settle for a simple mantel piece and a small stone return to your fire place. Make it a stunning feature that will become a focal point for your living area and talking piece amongst your guests. This is the benefit of stone veneer – because it is a fraction of the price of natural stone and so light weight your purchasing power is far greater. This allows you to install more manufactured stones to your fire place for the same price as a much smaller area of natural stone. Therefore you can afford to create a striking feature to the walls surrounding your fire place. Quantity in this case, does equal quality. The more stone veneer you install the more striking the feature you create with your fire place surround.
Reason # 7 – Colour Choice This reason is a huge benefit for you when installing a fire place to your home. In your mind you know exactly what colours and shades you want to use to achieve the best interior design. You want a balance of primary and complimentary colours throughout your living space and you don’t want to compromise. Great news – manufactured stone veneer can be manufactured in any colour you desire. You will not be limited in a choice of colour when you install stone veneer to your fire place. Natural stone cannot give you this flexibility of colour choice. So let your imagination dream up the perfect stone veneer colour for your home and ask the manufacturer to produce the specific stone veneer you require. It’s that easy. By choosing your own colour you are also creating an individual stone veneer that is very unlikely to appear in anyone else’s home. This creates a unique interior design for you and a fire place that will stand out from the average fire place.
