Ideas please How to update a Fire surround.

You can get stone paint in various colours, makes anything look and feel like stone, we changed our fireplace from a yellow colour to limestone very effectively?

You could tile the plinth and insert. If you want it plain you could cut vermiculite to fit and paint it with heat resistant paint?

We painted our surround a couple of years ago,
but was never really happy with it.

As we need to replace the gas fire, on the recommendation of our gas fitter we are going electric!

So after lockdown the fire and surround is coming out .

The wall will be plastered and new opti electric fire which will either be in the wall or hung on the wall in a similar way to a wall TV screen , obviously lower than a screen.

The bonus for me is that it require no surround and coals /stones/ logs can be lit when fire is off.
Another plus point room should look bigger

Gas used to be much cheaper than gas, that is not the case.

Thank you for your replies, I thought the thread was not evoking interest as it’s a couple of days old.
Stone paint would be good - but will it stick to the gloss surface of the present insert and tiled plinth?
We tried to paint over a glossy wooden staircase and bits of white paint drop off often and reveal the brown wood although it was primed and prepared and suitable products used.

We have to keep the plinth as the carpet is not due to be replaced.

Your new fire project is well thought out Cherry and will be a lovely feature in your room making it look quite different.
Photo please when it’s completed ?

This is the look I’d really like if we could afford replacement.
It was in a hotel we holidayed in.

My friend painted just the outside surround white and left the marble.
She bought special paint, not sure what though and it looks really nice and modern.

A photo please Cherrywhen you have finished, we don’t have gas in our Village and the open fire just makes a mess. We haven’t been able to get out and see what an Electric fire with or without a surround looks like, so I would be interested in seeing one in situ.

The one you’ve got looks fine to me whatever the colour scheme. Sometimes when you’ve redecorated it takes time to get used to the new look.

How about using something with a concrete effect?

www.homebase.co.uk/craig-rose-artisan-concrete-effect-paint-pale-elements-2-5l_p473073

What about painting the surround black or grey? It might change the effect of the onyx part? I’d be loathe to do anything with the onyx as it is actually practical. Is the wallpaper what you actually have now?

We’re changing the wallpaper MayBee. It will have turquoise on, instead of ochre yellow.

I will investigate the Craig Rose paint MissAdventure .
Although it looks expensive it’s cheaper than a new fire surround. Thank you.

They have all different effects (some are much cheaper)

There is one with a patina effect, if you're feeling brave!

Also, if you're really sure you want something different, you can buy brick 'faces'. I don't know what they're called, but very thin bricks that are easy to tile with.

You could buy those and paint them grey.

How timely Puzzler- we’ve just done ours as I was fed up with the dark surround and our gas fire needed replacing after 23 years!

Decided to go electric and paint the surround same colour as the walls which was the cheapest option as we’d recently redecorated and I couldn’t face hassle during lockdown!

I’m happy with it and it’s certainly ‘lifted’ the whole room!

I’m drawn to the patina one but am trying to stray from Bronze into Silver, but the bronze one is lush.

Steer not stray!

This is our room. The fire is a beige/ivory colour. Curtains grey and yellow. It looks fine to me. We are thinking of painting the fireplace wall a shade or two deeper as its very bland. I prefer plain walls. Then I can change soft furnishings more easily. I would just go ahead and decorate and see how you feel about it afterwards. You can change it when replacing the carpet.

YouTube is great for inspiration.
People do the things you've thought about and usually update at a later point to show whether their idea worked long term.

youtu.be/R5P1OGLgvlI

X posts Hi Pantglas - I am studying your photo with interest , thanks,

youtu.be/2Snhdi7wD4o

Your room apants and nadateturbe ‘s have wooden floors. I wasn’t bothered about the beige tiling until we had a charcoal carpet and went for black TV stand and floor lamp. Then the beige looked out of place to me.
(I know this is not a problem compared to other problems of health and worry, but just in the context of getting the deco to match or contrast really).

My daughter in law has been running amok with Frenchic paint. She’s painted anything which sits still long enough, kitchen units, fireplace, the lot! It looks fantastic, and she says it is very easy to use.

Pants where did the a come from!

Now I’m thinking the wooden flooring looks good ... ?