Gorgeous Marble Fireplace Surround in a Coastal Living Room

Last Updated on December 29, 2024

See the stunning transformation of this gorgeous marble fireplace surround to inspire your fireplace makeover.

I am beyond excited to be sharing this post and have been looking forward to it for months! This past summer, my husband and I bought our forever home in the mountains. One of the selling points of the house was the newly remodeled fireplace. When I saw the pictures online, I was…. unimpressed. I never like to put other people’s designs down because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Your home should always reflect your personal style, but this house was definitely not reflecting mine. It was dark and rustic and most definitely did not complement my coastal decorating style.

BEFORE:

We pretty much gutted our last house, and we did a lot of the work before we even moved in. Since we are planning to live in this house for the unforeseeable future, I committed to not making any major remodeling decisions until we had lived here for one year. It’s important to sit with a house for a bit to be extra thoughtful about the changes you really want.

However, I only made one exception – this fireplace surround! I mean, it just had to go. There was no way I could live with it for even a year. To me, it was that bad. I got my husband on board and started looking for inspiration!

Marble Tile Fireplace

The last time we had our fireplace tiled, I chose a beautiful blue mosaic tile that I absolutely loved. I actually looked for similar tiles and mocked up what it could look like with the rest of our home. However, I was really wanting to do something simpler and more classic this go round. A marble fireplace surround is gorgeous and timeless, and I knew I would love this look for years to come (maybe even forever!).

I searched online and also in store. Tile can be tricky. Lighting plays a huge role in how the tile looks and most online photos are done professionally and are likely retouched. If you’re buying tile online, always look at the review photos if there are any. That way you can see the tile in different lighting to make sure you know exactly what you’re getting.

I found a tile online from Floor & Decor that I loved (or thought I did). Luckily, we have a Floor & Decor near us, so I checked it out in person, and I am so glad I did! I hated it in real life. It had a lot more brown tones than the online pics showed. But luckily while we were there, I fell in love with another tile.

Carrara Marble Fireplace Surround

I chose a 3×6” polished Carrara marble tile. I just loved the look of it. Carrara marble is white to light gray with gray veining. Marble is a natural stone, so there is always color variation from tile to tile, even within the same box. Have a clear idea of what you want the end result to look like so you can choose the perfect tiles for your marble fireplace surround.

shop tile

I went through each box and picked out the exact tiles I wanted to use. There were some tiles that were almost solid charcoal gray which would have stuck out like a sore thumb. I did choose a few tiles with some darker grays to give the fireplace surround visual interest but aimed to keep it very neutral and balanced. For the grout, I chose Polyblend Plus Bright White to keep the fireplace surround light and bright.

shop grout

Different grout colors can completely change the look of your tile. Make sure you consider grout color and the look you’re going for. Darker grout will create more contrast, since it essentially outlines your tiles. Lighter grout gives a more blended look to your marble tile.

We used a great tile guy who really got my vision and was easy to work with. Our tile guy is a local contractor I found through our neighborhood Facebook group. If you’re not doing it yourself, try to find someone who comes highly recommended. Tiling is an art, and you want to make sure it’s done correctly (hence why my hubs and I did not attempt this!).

Carrara Marble tile Fireplace in progress

Shiplap, Built-ins, & Marble Fireplace Surround

Our marble fireplace surround would have completely clashed with the existing shiplap. It was stained in multi-colors and was the polar opposite style of our timeless Carrara marble tile. We had already painted the entire house Benjamin Moore White Dove, and after much back and forth (these built-ins almost got painted navy!), I ultimately chose to paint the shiplap and built-ins the same color. BM White Dove is a light creamy white with warm undertones. While Carrara marble is gray, there are also touches of cream within the tile I selected that coordinate perfectly with White Dove.

If you’re unsure about whether your tile will coordinate with your existing paint color, buy a box of tile and bring it home to physically lay them next to one another. You can always return the tile if it’s not a good match! I curated some additional marble tile options that are similar to mine below:

1. // 2. // 3. // 4. // 5.

Repainting our shiplap and built-ins and adding the marble fireplace surround completely transformed the look of our living room for the better. This is the only major thing we are tackling in our home for year one and it was such a game changer.

If you’re considering a marble tile fireplace in your home, I hope this gave you some great inspiration. Happy tiling!