The 7 Most Stylish Chimney Breast Paint Ideas

After researching chimney breast ideas for my own terrace house renovation, I wanted to share with you some of the best chimney breast paint ideas that I discovered.

In previous posts I’ve shared the best chimney breast wallpaper ideas and chimney breast ideas without a fireplace, whereas in this post I’m going to be sharing with you chimney breast paint ideas that demonstrate the different styles you can achieve, to elevate the look of your chimney breast, with only paint.

Experimenting with paint on your chimney breast presents an opportunity to create a stunning chimney breast and focal point within your home. I hope this post provides you with inspiration for how you can begin decorating your own chimney breast.

Gothic Chimney Breast Paint Ideas

A style that’s not for those looking for an understated approach, Victorian Gothic décor encompasses drama and elegance.

An important element to a Victorian Gothic design is to make architectural features look extremely dramatic and luxurious, so a pronounced chimney breast and fireplace provides great potential to achieve a bold Victorian Gothic feature.

To help achieve this highly sensual style, choose rich and vivid paint colours of the era. Paint colours such as opulent black, intense emerald green and deep burgundy are perfect options to create a gothic but lively room.

If going dark throughout the whole room would be too intense, painting the chimney breast the darker accent colour and accessorising with ornate décor items can still achieve a more contemporary interpretation of a gothic style.

Retro Chimney Breast Paint Ideas

The feature of a chimney breast provides a fitting element within a room to get creative with paint.

The typical approach you tend to see is a chimney breast that has been painted in one colour from top to bottom. However, this example boldly showcases creativity and what can be achieved with paint.

Designer Sam Buckley has transformed this Victorian apartment in Edinburgh by using bold rich colours to create equally bold geometric shapes throughout the room. The chimney breast doesn’t interrupt the design as the shapes continue on this protruding wall, even incorporating the fireplace surround into the paint design.

For those who appreciate this fun style but would prefer a slightly more diluted approach, take inspiration from the home of Richard O’Gorman who’s painted a circle on the chimney breast that frames an ornamental piece of décor.

The colours of the painted fire surround, along with the painted shapes in the alcoves, all complement one another and help to create a bright and playful room.

Pink Chimney Breast Paint Ideas

Made from a combination of red, blue and white, the colour pink exudes the more sensitive side of it’s primary creators. The red, often associated with passion and energy, is softened to become more romantic and intimate and the blue, often associated with tranquillity, is softened whilst still remaining soothing.

According to psychologists, particular shades of pink have been shown to have calming abilities. So much so that sports teams have begun painting opposing teams’ changing rooms in pink in an attempt to reduce aggression and regulate moods so as to gain an advantage.

Two-tone Chimney Breast Paint Ideas

If you’re looking for a more minimalist statement, painting your chimney breast halfway up the wall or up to a picture rail could be the perfect option.

By painting the bottom half of the wall with a darker colour than the colour that’s on the top of the wall it will help to ground the space and create the illusion of a higher ceiling.

Also, the deeper colour on the bottom of the wall will help to visually add depth in the room whilst still helping the space to feel bright and light.

Neutral Chimney Breast Paint Ideas

A great way to change up the colour in a room regularly or incorporate trends is through accessories and décor items. Therefore, if you’re not ready or don’t want to commit to a particular colour, using a neutral colour for the chimney breast paint provides a great backdrop for different pieces of artwork or décor items that can be interchanged.

Take inspiration from the home of designer Nina Litchfield who has a fusion of English country, tropical Brazil and German Bauhaus styles throughout her rooms. A particular trait within the Brazilian style is to bring nature indoors and one way Nina has done this is through the art displayed, such as the large depiction of a Bird of Paradise hanging on the chimney breast.

This example also showcases a similar approach. The chimney breast is adorned with decorative pieces and the images, textures and colours are the items that inject personality and warmth into the room.

Lime wash chimney breast paint ideas

Another option to help showcase your artwork is to pick one of the colours within the piece, or a complementary colour, that would either provide contrast to make the piece stand out more on the chimney breast, or a colour that would make the piece look more integrated with the wall.

This example by Bert & May uses a blue lime-wash paint that both replicates the colour and texture within the painting. By using a similar paint to what’s in the artwork, on the chimney breast and walls, it’s created a cohesive look within the room.

Glossy Chimney Breast Paint Ideas

Reflecting natural light around the room is an effective way to keep the space bright and also adds a dynamic view within the room, as the reflective surface will constantly change depending on how the light hits the surface.

High-gloss paint is a bold and effective way to add a reflective surface, create visual interest and accentuate architectural details such as a chimney breast.

A combination of polished plaster has been used in this example, along with gloss paint and lime wash. The reflective surface on the chimney breast makes it appear as though patterns have been created on the chimney breast from this particular focal point, showcasing the decorative details on the ceiling.

*Image courtesy of Henry van der Vijver*

I hope you’ve found inspiration in these chimney breast paint ideas. If you’d like to see more chimney breast ideas take a look at the 7 best chimney breast wallpaper ideas and these modern chimney breast ideas without a fireplace.

Chimney Breast Paint Ideas