White marble sets the tone before the flames do. In this classic room, the fireplace sits inside a carved surround with a black fire opening and a large gold-framed mirror above it. The project combines two custom fireplace solutions, each worked into the existing setting rather than replacing it. One is a gas fire with fireplace surround adaptation and a renovated flue; the other is an automatic bioethanol fireplace chosen when the original channel could no longer be restored. The result is visible in the way steel, marble, and fire meet at the same wall.

A marble surround with a black fire opening

The main fireplace keeps the room’s old profile intact. A white marble surround with an arched opening frames the fire chamber, where the dark insert sits back from the edge and gives the opening clear definition. That contrast is what makes the hearth read so sharply in the room. The adapted surround does not hide the original shape; it works with it. From the front, the fire sits neatly within the classic mouldings, with the marble carrying the eye upward toward the mirror.

Close to the mantel, the detail work is restrained and exact. A custom steel fireplace finish sharpens the transition between the masonry and the fire unit, while the surrounding wall remains light and formal. The project does not lean on decoration for effect. It relies on proportion: the opening, the frame, the mantel shelf, and the mirror stacked in a clear vertical line. That arrangement gives the fireplace a stronger presence without crowding the room.

Gas fire with fireplace surround adaptation

For the first fireplace, the existing surround was adjusted to accept a gas fire. The chimney renovation with flexible liner was part of that process, allowing the fire to be connected through a renewed channel. The work stays hidden behind the front view, but the finish tells the story. The fire opening feels set into the original structure, not imposed on it. Around the opening, steel creates a precise edge that keeps the adapted surround visually clean.

The room around the hearth supports that reading. White panelled walls, a pale floor, and a broad mirror soften the black opening and the steel lines. Light from the nearby windows reaches the marble surface and keeps the mantel bright, even when the fire itself is the darkest point in the composition. It is a straightforward but careful insertion: a gas fire with fireplace surround adaptation, shaped to sit inside a classic interior without breaking the room’s rhythm.

When the old flue could not be restored

The second fireplace started with a different plan. The idea was to restore an old hearth in the bedroom, but the existing channel was too damaged to save. Rather than forcing a repair that would not hold, the solution changed direction. An automatic bioethanol fireplace was selected, bringing live flame back into the room through a different route. The choice was made because of the visible fire and the sense of heat it gives, both of which mattered once the original flue was no longer workable.

Here, too, the setting remains tied to the existing architecture. The surround is finished with a custom steel fireplace finish that sits neatly against the older structure. A Dutch basket-style detail, made to measure, completes the composition with a crisp edge. Nothing reads as added for its own sake. The steel line, the mantel profile, and the black fire chamber work together in a narrow band of material and shadow, keeping the bedroom fireplace grounded in the room rather than floating as a separate object.

Automatic bioethanol fireplace in a bedroom setting

The automatic bioethanol fireplace changes the atmosphere of the bedroom without changing its architecture. The fire is placed inside a familiar mantle shape, so the eye still reads the old hearth first. That decision matters. Instead of erasing the room’s history, the installation keeps the white mouldings, the pale wall finish, and the visible edge of the surround in view. The flame appears within that frame, small but direct, and the surrounding materials do the rest.

Seen from another angle, the room becomes more legible. Glass in the adjacent wall area catches light, and built-in cabinetry appears at the edge of the composition in some views. Those elements keep the fireplace connected to the wider interior. In the bedroom, the new fire sits close to the wall rather than dominating it, and the steel finish gives it a defined outline. The effect is not decorative in the loose sense; it comes from the exact fit of each part.

Mirror, marble and the room around them

The large gold-framed mirror is more than a backdrop. It extends the vertical line above the mantel and reflects the room’s brightness back toward the fireplace. Set against the white marble surround, the mirror adds weight at the top of the composition and gives the hearth a taller profile. The combination is clear in the images: marble below, glass above, and a dark fire chamber at the center. That sequence turns the fireplace wall into a single visual axis.

Elsewhere in the room, the same palette repeats in smaller details. White joinery, glass-fronted storage, and polished timber flooring create a calm field around the hearths. The project uses those surfaces to frame the fire rather than compete with it. In the living room, the classic surround is the main event; in the bedroom, the fireplace is quieter, more enclosed. Together they show two ways of working with the same architectural language.

Two fire solutions, one classic framework

What ties the project together is not uniformity but the way each fireplace responds to its own opening. One relies on a renewed flue, an adapted surround, and a gas fire set into a classic marble mantle. The other replaces a failed repair plan with an automatic bioethanol fireplace, then resolves the detail with steel and a made-to-measure finish. Both keep the original room in view. Neither one overwhelms the architecture that was already there.

That restraint is what gives the project its clarity. The marble surround, black fire opening, gold mirror, and nearby built-ins all stay readable as separate parts, yet they sit comfortably in the same interior. The fireplaces do not act as isolated objects. They are fitted into the room’s existing edges, its openings, and its light. In that sense, the project is less about adding fire than about finding the right way to let it belong.