How to style your living room around your inbuilt gas log fireplace

Your living room is, hands down, the most important room in your house. It’s the place you go to relax, entertain guests, and unwind at the end of a long day. When it comes to relaxing, nothing beats curling up with a hot chocolate in front of a warm fireplace on a chilly winter evening.

Installing an inbuilt gas log fireplace could be the best decision you may ever make. Fireplaces transform houses into homes. Whether your taste is modern or traditional, once your fireplace is installed, you have the freedom to create an ambiance to suit your style.

Before you start filling your room up with colour, furniture, and accessories, there are many design elements to consider.

Keep all furniture at a safe distance from your fireplace

When it comes to styling your living room, it’s essential to put safety first. Your gas log fireplace generates intense heat that can damage furniture or even spark a fire.  Ensure you place your furniture at a safe distance to avoid any fire or damage to your lounge chairs and coffee tables.

When it comes to soft furnishings, such as rugs and carpets, the same rules apply. For more guidance about suitable distances from combustible materials, refer to your fireplace manual for detailed information.

If you have small children or pets, it might be worth creating an extra layer of protection by incorporating a firescreen into your design. If you are looking for a bit of a traditional look, firescreens create the façade of a wood-burning fireplace.

Balance your living room focal point

Much like your television, your inbuilt gas log fireplace serves as a natural focal point. Fireplaces create a unique and traditional ambiance that is not available in other living room accessories. Whereas your television act as more as your primary entertainment piece.

Your fireplace and television both have such a dominating presence and need to be carefully considered when designing your lounge room. These days there are two paths that most people take when balancing these elements. The first option is to stack the television directly above the fireplace mantel. The second is to place the two side-by-side on a feature wall.

Balancing your television and fireplace requires thoughtful planning. A carefully considered and balanced design allows both focal points to work together to create an inviting and warm space all year round.

Define your traffic flow

When arranging your living room furniture, the first thing you need to do is to figure out where people walk when they go through the living room. The traffic flow paths are between all doorways in the room.

There may be some other common walkways you’ll need to consider when designing your lounge room. Other areas in the room that are "destinations" may be the windows you like to open, a built-in bar, and your inbuilt gas log fireplace.

Before you start moving your furniture around your fireplace, take note of any areas where furniture gets in the way of the traffic flow.

It is all in the layout

When working on your lounge room layout, you need to consider design elements such as traffic flow, safe distances, and your lounge room’s focal point.

When arranging your lounge room layout, furniture is sort of like trying to solve a puzzle. If your fireplace is the focal point, this becomes an essential piece of the puzzle. Taking a considered approach to arranging your furniture allows you perfectly to fit everything together, making your lounge room look and feel right.

Some popular layouts to consider when designing your lounge room include the formal fireplace design, the sofa facing the fireplace, and the corner fireplace design. When you create your living room layout, the key thing to remember is that it has to be liveable. If the furniture blocks the traffic flow or is uncomfortable watching television, it won’t work in the long-term.

Enhance with accessories

Your fireplace is the hero of any room. You can complement your fireplace and dress it up with accessories like a fireplace toolset, fire screens, and log buckets.

Your fireplace’s mantelpiece is considered prime real estate when it comes to accessorising your lounge. Get inspired by the endless decorating ideas that are available. One great way to make your lounge room look bigger is to hang a large mirror across the top of the mantel.

If you are looking for some styling inspiration, head over to Pinterest to discover the countless ways you can dress up your mantel to transform your room completely. Ultimately, when it comes to your mantel, the golden rule is that less is more. The only time of year when an overcrowded mantlepiece is acceptable during the festive season!

Style for the season

Speaking of season, one of the greatest things about having a fireplace is that you can style it for any occasion! Snow globes, Christmas stockings, and wreaths are all great festive ornaments to use to dress up your fireplace for the silly season. Fireplaces are a great way to create themed spaces that contribute to everlasting memories.

Next steps

Illusion Gas Log Fires have proudly serviced the people of Australia for the past 25 years as Australia’s largest manufacturer of gas and wood heaters.

If you are still shopping around for the perfect fireplace for your lounge room, click here to visit our online range of high-quality inbuilt gas log fireplaces. Other fireplaces styles available by the team at Illusion Gas Log Fires include free standing gas log fires and inbuilt and free standing wood heaters.