Remember Little House on the Prairie? Yes you do, even if you won’t admit it! Well, recently I took on a new client and as soon as I saw her fireplace I immediately thought “this thing belongs in the Ingalls cabin”.

The whole thing looks so out of place. There is way too much brick going on for an urban home, the wall trim doesn’t relate to it at all and the flat screen TV above just looks odd.

I don’t mind a little brick showing so to tone down the pioneer feel I decided to add some cladding to the fireplace and integrate it into the wall trim and then paint out the oak mantle.

The result is a fireplace that is much more inkeeping with an upscale urban home. It was easy, simple and best of all, very inexpensive.