Of course, the living room is a favorite place to relax and receive guests in the house. Each owner strives to equip it so that it is convenient and comfortable to spend time there. To give a special comfort to the room, many designers recommend installing a fireplace in it, so a kitchen-living room with a fireplace is increasingly found in the layout of modern country houses and apartments.
Choosing a location for installation
Before you start choosing a suitable fireplace, you need to remember a few basic rules for placing it in a living space:
- For installing a fireplace, a wall that is perpendicular to the window is best;
- It is not recommended to place the fireplace in the gap between the windows and near the wall facing the street - with this arrangement, all the heat produced by the fireplace will go out into the street;
- Opposite the fireplace or around it, it is advisable to place cozy furniture for relaxing with the whole family or with friends;
- Finding a fireplace in the corridor or next to the stairs is highly undesirable - in this case, the safety of the home is jeopardized;
- Do not place a TV over the fireplace - this is also fraught with a fire hazard. The TV will look much more appropriate on the wall perpendicular to the installed fireplace.
Types of fireplaces
Built in… This option for placing the hearth is good in that it saves space - the fireplace is built into a wall niche
Wall-mounted… The equipment is placed along the wall
Ostrovnoy… With this arrangement, the fireplace acts as a partition, a kind of island dividing the space of the combined kitchen-living room into two zones - the kitchen area and the living room area. This creates the effect of two different rooms
Angular… The most popular location for the fireplace. It saves space and it is convenient to place furniture and other appliances around it
Types of fireplaces depending on the style of the room:
When decorating a kitchen-living room in a classic style, the fireplace should be a kind of addition and not stand out. Excessive decoration of this structure will not be entirely appropriate. You can hang a picture or a mirror over the fireplace, put a vase of flowers on the mantelpiece. The fireplace will look beautiful in a wooden or stone portal
If you have chosen a country style for decorating your home, then the fireplace will perfectly fit into this interior. In this case, a roughly folded structure of stones, deliberately uneven and attracting attention with its primitive beauty, is suitable. The best decoration for such a fireplace will be bronze trinkets and hunting trophies hung from above
If you are attracted by the Art Nouveau style, then the choice of a fireplace for you is practically unlimited - It is this style of interior decoration of the kitchen-living room that suggests the possibility of making an original fireplace according to your own design project, with all kinds of additions and decorations. It is enough only in this case to take into account the peculiarities of the stylistic solution of the room and have good taste
A fireplace with decorative elements made of plexiglass and steel will perfectly fit into one of the most modern styles - the high-tech style. In general, this style assumes strict minimalism in design, therefore, the fireplace in the kitchen-living room should also be without frills and unnecessary decorations
Or maybe you are still dreaming about the magnificence of ancient palaces? Then choose the luxurious baroque style to decorate your home. In such an interior, a fireplace with elaborate stucco decorations, gilding and carving would be appropriate. It will be very good to use natural wood or marble finish for the fireplace portal
Design
The combined kitchen-living room will perfectly fit both the interior of a country house and a city apartment. A large area of the room will allow you to put cozy rocking chairs and a table for tea drinking around the fireplace, where you can spend the evenings with your beloved household members or friends.
The fireplace in this case will serve as an additional source of heat or simply allow you to relax under the crackle of burning wood and the glow of the reflections of the flame. Regardless of the type of fireplace installed, it will bring zest, coziness to any interior and add a touch of chic and elitism to the room.
