Call it warm minimalism: these 10 fireplaces from our archives blend seamlessly into their surroundings and don’t call attention to themselves—while crackling merrily and emitting the requisite rosy glow we crave this time of year.
A stone ledge creates a display shelf in the Ten Broek cottage by Messana O’Rorke Architects.
In stylist Tiina Laakonen’s Amagansett home, a fireplace blends seamlessly into the wall.
Photograph by Matthew Williams.
Photograph courtesy of Chambers + Chambers.
Architect Barbara Chambers’ fireplace echoes the architecture of the symmetrical doorways on either side of it.
Architect Elizabeth Roberts finished the fireplace surround in this Prospect Heights townhouse with tadelakt plaster, a traditional method made from lime plaster and black olive soap.
Photograph by Dustin Aksland, courtesy of Elizabeth Roberts Architecture from A Warm, Minimalist Duplex in Brooklyn by Architect Elizabeth Roberts.
Art plays the starring role in this room, while the fireplace provides a note of contrast to the gallery-white walls without calling attention to itself.
Photograph by Michael Moran, courtesy of O’Neill Rose Architects from A New York Story: The Stunning Revival of a Landmarked Townhouse with an Intriguing History.
The communal living room in Portguese guesthouse Casa Modesta features a streamlined stone fireplace with edges flush to the wall.
Photograph by Alex Reyto for the Perfect Hideaway, courtesy of Casa Modesta from Casa Modesta: A Family House Turned Rural Retreat in Portugal’s Algarve.
Photograph by Jonathan Hokklo.
The understated fireplace in this Shelter Island living room doesn’t weigh down the room’s light-and-airy vibe.
Cereal magazine founder and editor Rosa Park adheres to a black, white, and gray palette in her Bath, England, flat and the fireplace surround is designed to match the door and window molding.
Photograph by Rich Stapleton from At Home with Rosa Park of Cereal Magazine.
Photograph by Pia Ulin, courtesy of Banghia Agostinho Architecture.
The couple who lives in this Carroll Gardens townhouse were inspired by their friends’ minimalist concrete mantel and requested one of their own in their remodel.
A petite black slate fireplace is incorporated into the wall paneling in the bedroom of a home on historic Roupell Street in London.
Photograph courtesy of The Modern House from A Rescued Georgian in a ‘Time-Capsule Enclave’ in the Center of London.